He stood in darkness and nothingness. He tried to look around, tried to gather his senses, but could not see anything. He could not even see his hands in front of him as he lifted them to his face. He had no idea where he was or what he was facing. He could not tell if he was spinning in an effort to gather his bearing or simply standing still. He raised his arms in front of him to feel for obstructions as he walked slowly forward. The blackness did not reveal whether he was moving, and he could not feel anything with his hands. A dim yellow light suddenly appeared in front of and above him. It was so dim that it really did not provide any illumination around him. He still could not see where he was going or whether anything was near him. Nonetheless, his best bet was to move towards the dim light as it was the only thing he could see. Opening his stride slightly, he moved towards the small sphere in front of him. He quickly realized that every few steps he took, the light brightened slightly. Soon the light was no longer dim but rather a brighter yellow, and the sphere was moving down towards him slowly. Or he was walking upwards; he could not tell. Soon the light began to bother his eyes and he had to squint more and more the closer he got. He still could not see anything around him as the sphere only appeared to light his path directly in front of him. He no longer cared to know what was surround him, if anything, but was intrigued by the sphere growing brighter and larger in front of him. As he moved closer, he could feel heat brushing against his face like a gloved hand caressing his face. The more steps he took the warmer the breeze became until he had to turn his head to keep the heat from filling his nostrils and irritating his eyes. He was suddenly inclined to ignore that irritation when he thought he heard a sound coming from the light. He squinted harder, trying to make out anything in the light but the sphere was too bright.

"...Franklin," a distorted voice said from beyond the light. Jamie could not tell if the voice was male or female.

"...Lieutenant Franklin..." the voice said again, this time more discernable as a woman's voice. Moving closer to the sphere, trying to withstand the now nearly unbearable heat and brightness, he placed his right hand above his eyes to serve as a shade from the light. Now he was up against the sphere, which was not larger than he could see. Squinting still, he peered inside the sphere. At first look, he thought he was looking into a crystal ball of some sort. Through the moderate discomfort caused by the intensity of the light, he could see a room beyond. Looking harder, he realized that he was looking into his quarters aboard the Nogura.

Now he was very perplexed by the sight in front of him. Through the bright light he could see himself lying in his bunk fast asleep. He was tossing and turning, kicking the covers from the bunk.

"Brig to Lieutenant Franklin" the female voice called out. No one answered and Jamie watched as the version of him he saw continued to toss and turn. Suddenly, without initiating it himself, he was lifted from his feet and propelled into the sphere of light.

Jamie shot up into a sitting position and wiped sweat from his brow. He looked around his quarters expecting to see an intruder lurching towards him. But there was nothing but shadows of furniture and the dim light of distant stars through the viewports.

"Brig to Lieutenant Franklin," the female voice called out once again. Jamie looked up towards the speaker while gathering his bearings.

"Franklin here," he replied while shaking off the disorientation of the dream he just left.

"Sir, this is Chief T'Kal in the brig. Sorry to wake you but Ensign Jalal is requesting your presence as soon as possible," she explained. Somewhat frustrated and annoyed that he was being summoned so early, he spun towards the side of the bunk and placed his head in his hands.

"On my way. Franklin out," he replied sharply, ending the communications link. Lifting his head from his hands he peered at the bunk side clock. He sighed when he learned that it was 0300 hours. Wiping the fatigue from his eyes he stood up and stumbled tiredly towards the hatch. Sliding aside with a hiss, he quickly caught himself by placing a hand upon the bulkhead. He looked down at his bare chest and abdomen. Snickering, he realized that he could not traverse the deck and enter the brig wearing only sleeping trousers. He turned around and slowly walked to his small closet and retrieved a blueish gray tank top. Spinning towards the exit from his quarters, he slipped the shirt over his head, slipped a pair of comfortable slippers upon his feet, and made his way into the corridor.]]>Sat, 19 Jan 2019 12:13:58 +0000A Drink and the Rumour Millhttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/274
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/274Mission - Episode 6: War CrimesLocation - Starbase 72 Timeline - MD135, 1930 hours

Minerva sat at the bar on the Starbase waiting for Eza, the Science Officer had become a good friend in their time knowing each other, and it was nice to start having some friends aboard the ship. With the loss of the Ulysses there was a lot of overlap and everyone was a bit tense with the prospect of being transferred to another assignment. Command had yet to make it know what the plan was for the crew of the two ships that were now basically crammed into one. There had been a few rumours, Lieutenant Yole the Ops officer was apparently being courted by more than one Captain and well as a research position at Daystrom.

"Hey Min," Eza said smiling as he approached the table.

She handed him the old fashioned she already had waiting for him. "Hey Eza."

He took a long drink from the glass and settled into the chair. "Any news?"

"No, you?" She replied.

"Nope, heard some scuttlebutt that T'Prynn the biologist might be up for it, but I also heard she wasn't really interested. She generally likes to be able to focus on her work and avoid the administrative crap." Eza replied, "You're likely safe though."

She smirked, "Well I was posted to the Nogura, and as an Ensign it's not like I'm in the running for the Chief billet."

"Hey now, you've got four years under your belt, there's a lot of CFCOs with less." He replied, then realized how it may have sounded.

She laughed it off. "Yes, four years and still an Ensign and still just an FCO. So help me if I hit five years before I get my first halo I'm going to be a bit chocked." It was true CFCOs were typically among the lower ranked members of the senior staff, a rather small department with limited admin crap as Eza called it meant fresh Ensigns were sometimes even posted to the roll, granted not on Sovereigns. I honestly wouldn't even want it if they did offer, but I wouldn't be mad at AFCO, get me out of some of those night shifts. Don't count yourself out, I heard you made quite the impression on Drayton on the Ulysses especially with the slipstream stuff. You've probably got as good a chance as anyone at getting the Chief role, and even with the combined crew Science isn't as remotely overstaffed as some departments."

He took another sip of his drink, he'd heard a few rumours he might be in the running, but acknowledging it felt like he would jinx it. "Fleet can overrule him, they might want someone far more experience and bring someone in."

"Unlikely, the Nogura is pretty much a battleship, science isn't likely a major focus for her assignments." Minerva replied.

"Great so I'll be in charge but board out of mind except when someone is trying to kill us, great pep talk." He replied with a smirk.

"It's Starfleet someone is always trying to kill us. It's on page two of the handbook." She joked back.

In the intervening time since the conclusion of the inquest and Admiral O’Connell’s decision to grant him command of the Sovereign-class starship sat in the starbase’s internal docking arena, Colby Drayton had made his way to the Nogura and begun the process of replicating new items to adorn his new quarters. Everything he had owned previously had been obliterated when the Ulysses had been lost, but he had been able to replicate some of the items due to having replicator patterns on file in the Starfleet LCARS database. The room had been stripped of all trace of its previous occupant by Starfleet Security which meant he had a blank canvas with which to work and so far, he had done a lovely job. The advantage of being at a starbase was that using replicators for a large number of personal items like he was meant no drain on the ships resources. There was no way he would be replicating vanity items such as large paintings, new, non-standard issue furniture or even curtains if they were underway in some far off region of space.

He’d taken a break for the last fifteen minutes to make a head start on the work that he would be pairing with Neprem to complete and so far, he had found it tough. Trying to sort through which of the Ulysses personnel he wanted to bring aboard was like choosing which child should get a present and which wouldn’t. They were all his crew and he wanted all of them, but at the same time, he had to remember that this was the Nogura and she had a crew already. The Ulysses personnel had to supplement what was already in place or, in certain circumstances, replace some people - but even then any such decision would have to be justified. It was not going to be easy for the pair of them.

Tara was on her way up from Engineering with similar thoughts running through her head. She wanted to be loyal to her crew and keep them all, but then there was the torn loyalty with Arjin’s memories, she wanted to keep all of the crew from the Ulysses as well! Working through the Nogura’s manifest in her head, she made a mental note of people she definitely wanted to keep, but there were a few exceptional individuals who were ready for bigger and better things, which would give her the opportunity to write some recommendations that would take those Officers off ship and open positions for a few from the Ulysses crew. But it wasn’t enough, and she knew merging crews would be an agonizing process for her, and Drayton as well. Arriving at his door, she gave the chime a ring and continued to ponder the potential transfers while she waited for entrance.

A few short seconds passed before a relaxed looking Colby, wearing simply his uniform undershirt and pants, appeared at the doorway with a giant smile on his face, stepping aside to grant the woman entry to his new quarters. “Come in Number One,” he smiled, gesturing inside with his left arm. “Forgive the mess, I’m in the middle of un packing,” he added swiftly.

Tara stiffened at ‘Number One;’ that was going to take some getting used to… again. Tara quickly cleared her throat. “Can you maybe hold off on calling me that, just for a while?” Tara asked cautiously as she stepped inside. “I mean no offense, it’s just that Hunter used that for me, and it’s, uh, a little awkward given the circumstances,” she explained awkwardly.

“Uh, sure. Sorry, I didn’t realise,” the Captain looked sheepish as he ran a hand through his mop of hair nervously. A great start to their new working relationship. “Can I get you a drink?” he asked quickly in an effort to change the subject as swiftly as possible.

“Tea, please, whatever is loaded in your replicator is fine,” Tara said, wringing her hands nervously. “Unless you’ve already started with the alcohol, then I’ll have whatever you’re having.”

“No, no. Tea is just great,” he lied as he went over to the same replicator he had replicated a small scotch from earlier to congratulate himself on the findings of the inquest. He replicated a pot of fresh tea and accompaniments before walking to the sofa area and setting them down on the small coffee table. “Milk? Sugar?” he queried as he started to pour.

“Just tea,” Tara replied with a smile to help alleviate some of the awkwardness as she sat down with him. Although in hindsight, asking for bland tea might make things more awkward, but she liked what she liked! Taking a cup he offered, she held it in her lap while it cooled. “Sorry if I’ve made things awkward, that was not my intent; Nathan’s death is still affecting me and hearing you call me ‘Number One’ was like a gut punch. But you didn’t know, so it’s… it’s ‘all good’ as Arjin would say,” she offered with a smile, finally taking a sip of tea.

Listening to her words as he poured the milk into his cup, the Captain nodded along slowly, adding a sugar cube and stirring until it melted. At the conclusion of her apology, the Captain sat back and smiled. “Not awkward at all,” he nodded to her. “So, what are your initial thoughts regarding the merger of the crews?” he asked.

“That’s a tough one,” Tara said, relaxing in her seat now that some of the tension had been released. “Nogura and Ulysses both boast some very talented Officers, choosing who to keep on the Nogura will not be easy. Though I think I figured out an interesting way to start; we isolate all Officers who are ready for advancements that would take them off ship and see what kind of vacancies open up as a result. We fill all the voids in Nogura’s crew, then start comparing the overlap and choosing based on competency and performance reviews rather than our loyalties,” she went on to suggest.

“That’s a great idea,” he nodded in response, picking up a data PADD that was on the table and sorting a list of the Ulysses crew by rank and length of service in post to try and assist him. “Okay, you go first,” he suggested.

“I didn’t happen to keep a PADD on me today; may I?” Tara asked as she extended her hand in request for his PADD.

Colby passed the data PADD to his companion.

Tara took the PADD and pulled up the Nogura’s manifest and began picking out the Officers and even a few NCO’s that she had made a mental note that were in a prime position for career growth with a transfer. As she compiled this list, she went through the manifest to pick out a few more names, then finally handed the PADD back to Drayton.

“You may notice that I’ve put a member of the current Senior Staff on that list,” Tara said as she watched Drayton review her selection. “Lieutenant Yole is a exemplary Officer, and her skills are wasted here; she needs to be on an exploration/science vessel, not a tactical vessel like the Nogura. She is so innovative, I certainly don’t want to see her go, but if she isn’t in a position where she can push the boundaries of her skills, her career will stall out.”

Whilst the look on his face suggested that he would be sad to see such an experienced officer go, deep down that made one thing less difficult; it meant he could keep Akaria Okan at Ops and she too was a more than competent officer. “I understand that and I’m sure she will appreciate your consideration. That would free up Ops for Lieutenant Okan,” he told, passing his original data PADD over for her to see the profile on the Cardassian. “Tactical?”

“I made a notation of a number of Security and Tactical personnel that could benefit from a transfer if we need to free the space, but for the moment I’m fine with our Chief Tactical Officer; Franklin is green, but he’s got good instincts, and with a bit of mentoring and good support within his department, he shows remarkable promise,” Tara briefed as she looked over the personnel file for Lieutenant Okan. “I don’t immediately recall Okan, but I like what I’m seeing in this service history, so she’s a keeper. Now Strategic Operations, I was torn about whether to add Garen to the transfer list; he’s originally from the Ulysses, it seems natural we would both want to keep him, and I have become quite fond of him, but I’m not entirely certain he’s suited for a tactical vessel. He is brilliant, but he struggles with combat situation so he might find he fares better on a station,” she continued, passing the PADD back with a few more names shuffled around. Garen’s name wasn’t on the list, she wanted to keep him, but her recommendation still was what it was.

So far, the Captain agreed with everything that she had said, except her judgement regarding Commander Romaes, however with only one Strategic Operation spot, he had a problem that needed remedying. “I know there is a position on Bajor that may be right up his street. I have another strategist, Lieutenant Commander Ithythao zh'Vhiahren who is under the care of our Chief Medical Officer, Commander Durrell. I’d like to keep them both aboard if possible. While we’re at it, I see a vacancy for the science team. I’d like to suggest Eza Bergen. He has proven to be very useful to us in the recent months,” the Captain told as he relaxed into his own chair.

“Lovely, more Andorians…” Tara replied with an eye roll and a very Arjin smirk. “Ah yes, science, medical, and counselling are wide open, so bring over everyone you have available.” And now came the big discussion, Engineering. Tara had already cleared some room in Engineering to make space for Ulysses crew, but they still had to assess the Chief Engineer. “For Engineering, I think we should keep Meibei zh’Khessi; she’s a little... odd, but when it comes to keeping this ship going there’s no one I trust more. Although, in the interest of full disclosure, there is something going on between us… I-I have no idea what this ‘something’ is, all I know is that I, um, feel… things… a-and I think she’s been trying to get me to explore these things but I’m not… Well, I’m not Arjin and he would have me diving face first into her-” Tara abruptly stopped when she realized what she was stammering and she blushed crimson, with even her spots darkening in hue. “I think you get the idea, so I’m going to shut up now,” she mumbled with embarrassment.

Drayton listened to the ramblings of the Trill who was clearly a lot less comfortable in such situations than his old friend Arjin had been. He also understood the need for companionship and love, so wouldn’t begrudge the Commander the chance to explore whatever was occurring between her and the engineer. That being said, he did have someone as equally as brilliant on his team. “I’ll agree with Lieutenant zh’Khessi but I’d like Commander Millarini to remain as a propulsion Specialist and oversee the installation of the new slipstream drive. That was why she came aboard the Ulysses and I think she feels like she has a point to prove. Engineering is such a massive department I’m sure there is room for both,” he smiled, moving on from the awkwardness she had felt. It was not in anyone’s interests for her to feel awkward or uncomfortable around the new commanding officer for long so it was better to get it all out now.

“I have no objections,” Tara replied in a subdued tone, still recovering from her bout of embarrassment, hastily finishing off her tea and setting the cup aside. “Sorry for my ramblings, I don’t usually indulge in much socialization; people tend to find me to be eccentric and rigid, and for the most part I’ve been okay with that. Honestly, I’m not sure what she sees in me that makes her so persistent,” she confessed, this time much more calmly.

“We all deserve to have someone Commander,” the man opposite her smiled as he passed over another data PADD. “In the light of recent events it has been suggested that we reactivate the Nogura marine and starfighter units. We’ll need to be on the lookout for unit commanders. We’ll also need to have engineering and operations make arrangements for them,” he told.

“I don’t disagree; with recent developments we could definitely benefit from the added muscle, but starfighters?” Tara replied, taking the PADD and giving the proposal a read. “Of course, tactics haven’t been an area of strength for me, so I will defer to your expertise, however the arrangements may take some time; Master Chief Carter is still doing her inspection, and Lieutenant zh’Khessi brought up an issue that I believe deserves further investigation, some fluctuations in the power distribution. Individually these fluctuations are minor and inconsequential, but together they do form a rather unsettling pattern, one that suggests that not all of th’Zorati’s sabotage has been undone, and I would prefer this situation is dealt with before we start bringing on starfighters.”

“I do not want to risk being caught with our pants down like we were in the nebula,” Drayton responded in reference to her first question. If they had been able to launch fighters in the nebula, there was a good chance the enemy would not have escaped. Whilst hindsight was a wonderful thing, he could do his best to ensure that they would not be as helpless in the future. “I’d rather have them aboard and them never see action than lament their absence at a time when we need them,” he added before responding to her later advice. “As soon as Lieutenant zh’Khessi is done with the engineerings issues will be fine,” he smiled and nodded in agreement. So far, so good. The discussion was more than amicable and there had been no major disagreements. Yet.

“It’s been over two weeks and we’re still finding evidence of his sabotage… What was he trying to do?” Tara said with a sigh and a dismayed shake of her head. “But it’s a good thing the Lieutenant caught it before we left the station; talk about getting caught with our pants down!” she added with a wry grin. “But you do make a fair point about the starfighters, and I’ll see to it that the additional personnel are accommodated right away.”

“Anything else we need to agree?” the new Captain queried as he took a sip of his tea.

“Duty rotations?” Tara suggested. “I’m partial to four six hour shifts, but the crew is currently-”

Tara’s words were cut short when they felt a rumble through their feet, followed quickly by the klaxxon of the red alert.

“=/\= Neprem to Bridge, status report!” Tara called out with a tap to her commbadge.

Colby looked at the woman with concern etched on his face and listened to the words that followed intently.

“=/\= Stand down on the red alert. Where is this rupture?” Tara asked, her intent to investigate this rupture as a possible point of sabotage similar to what Meibei had observed earlier.

“=/\= Deck 6.”

The color drained from Tara’s face. “Meibei…” she said, her voice barely a whisper. Then she looked at Drayton. “Meibei said she was going to check out the manifold on deck 6 before she turned in for the night,” she recalled, completely forgetting all sense of propriety by using Meibei’s name instead of her rank or surname.

Drayton rose from his seat and tapped his commbadge in order to join in the conversation, “=/\=Drayton here. Scan for life signs,” he ordered, picking up his uniform jacket and waving Tara over towards the door.

Tara quickly rose to follow. She felt like she couldn’t breathe, like all the air had been sucked out of the room, but through sheer force of will she didn’t let her panic show, maintaining her composure as she and the Captain left his quarters.

“=/\= We’re seeing one Andorian life sign in the vicinity of the rupture; Medical is being informed,” the Bridge Officer reported.

“=/\=Balls to that, beam her there already!” Drayton demanded as he slipped his jacket on whilst striding down the corridor. “Commander Neprem will get a report from sickbay. I’m headed to engineering. Get on the comm and let the Admiral know that Nogura isn’t going anywhere until we get to the bottom of this and any support he could grant us would be appreciated,” the new Captain ordered sternly, stopping only to look at Tara to see if she was okay with his order. He assumed she would want to be down their with Meibei, but perhaps he had assumed wrongly?

“Thank you, Captain,” Tara said softly, grateful that he had made that call for her; she wanted to be in Sickbay, but if it had come down to her making the decision, she would have gone to deck 6 like a good Engineer should. Then she cleared her throat. “=/\= Wake Master Chief Carter as well and have her report in,” Tara ordered, assuming that the explosion hadn’t woken her already.]]>Thu, 03 Jan 2019 03:41:57 +0000Kentucky Fried Andorianhttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/268
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/268Mission - Episode 6: War CrimesLocation - Deck 6, Jefferies TubesTimeline - MD135, 1629 Hours

Seeing Tara had quite unexpectedly left Meibei abuzz with happy excitement, and she couldn’t stop grinning as she left Engineering and approached the turbolift. She hadn’t seen Tara for days, and somehow, that brief meeting with the redhead Trill had simply made Meibei…happy. It was silly, it was ridiculous, and Meibei loved it. She hadn’t had such a strong crush in years, not since her very first assignment, and the thrill of it was exhilarating. In her heart, Meibei knew that someone as refined and brilliant as Tara wouldn’t fall for a colony rube like Meibei, and so she wasn’t expecting anything. But still, the flirting was wonderful fun, and Tara was a great friend. After all the drama of the past few weeks, with the sabotage and the traitorous captain, such friendship was a welcome distraction.

As such, Meibei was humming to herself as she found the Jefferies junction entryway near her quarters, opened the hatch and climbed right in. She didn’t really mind getting her white dress dirty or ruffled in the tight quarters of the Jefferies tube. It was easily mended, after all, and Meibei wanted to check out at least one EPS junction before she went to bed. Her legs were a bit sore from a night of dancing on the starbase, but even so, that twinge in her antennae spurred Meibei on. It was only one junction of thirty that would need to be checked, but she’d feel better for at least doing one.

After a couple of minutes of crawling, Meibei found what she was looking for. She sat back against a bulkhead and reached up, tapping a small control above her head that retracted a panel. It was perfectly innocuous, really. A single large grey cylinder diverged into two smaller grey cylinders that continued onward to one of the port phaser emitters, and it looked perfectly functional. Still humming, Meibei opened a panel on the tube wall opposite her, pulled out a toolkit and got to work.

Everything was as expected. Meibei ran the tricorder scan and it looked perfectly fine. She poked a small instrument into an access point of the intersection while she scanned again, and the readings were as expected at the tiny change of electroplasma charge. The diagnostic required Meibei to stay for a good five minutes or so, monitoring the readings, but she didn’t mind. The Jefferies tube was wonderfully quiet and private, after all, and the faint vibration of the metal against Meibei’s back was rather pleasant. The duranium was cold against her blue skin, but she didn’t mind in the slightest, sighing happily at the sensation.

It was only a good three minutes in, while Meibei was thinking back to that bizarre (yet hilarious) Vulcan comedian on the starbase, that she noticed something odd. The quiet solitude of the Jefferies tube was being disturbed by an increasingly loud thrumming sound, while the cold metal against her shoulders was now vibrating at an uncomfortable frequency. Meibei frowned, but the tricorder showed that everything was perfectly fine. She adjusted the tool that was attached to the EPS junction to tweak the electroplasma charge, and just as it should, the tricorder showed the EPS flow to change as expected.

“Well, that’s odd,” Meibei mumbled to herself. The thrumming was getting louder, and now she realised that she was starting to sweat as the Jefferies tube warmed up. The tricorder still showed that everything was perfectly normal. “So what are you up to, hm? Let’s have a look see…”

Putting the tricorder down, Meibei simply reached up into the EPS junction and felt around, her purple tongue sticking out in concentration as she moved her hands around the large, warm tubes. It took a good thirty seconds before Meibei’s searching hands happened upon something. It was rectangular, small and metallic, tucked out of easy sight on top of one of the smaller tubes. Confused, Meibei poked her head up into the uncomfortably warm space to see what she was touching.

Except that she was touching nothing. To her eyes, it was as if Meibei’s fingers were pressed upon thin air, yet she felt it! But how…

“Uh oh,” Meibei whispered, her mouth dropping open in belated realisation. It was getting even warmer now, uncomfortably so, and her skin prickled at the intense heat, the thrumming getting even louder. “But the tricorder...oh no, no no no!”

There was no time. The tricorder scans couldn’t be trusted; the invisible little box had been affecting it somehow, and also the electroplasma flow...the electroplasma that came directly from the warp core. Suddenly Meibei seized a large box out of the toolkit and connected it to the Jefferies tube. Just like the tricorder, the little diagnostic screen merrily reported that everything was fine, but Meibei ignored the lying little bastard and instead started working the tool’s controls.

“Come on, come on, I can fix this, I can fix this,” she said frantically, her breath coming hard and fast as she worked. “Okay, you dirty cheat, if I can’t stop you, then I’ll just redirect you! You aren’t coming anywhere near my warp core...stupid cheater...come on, come on…oh, shut up, you!”

Her combadge chirped, but Meibei was too tightly focused to respond, her hands working desperately as she brought up another tool to the EPS junction. She was sweating profusely now, the Jefferies tube now more akin to a furnace, her antennae moving back and forth in panic. It was a war now, a war between Meibei and the evil little box that was trying to overheat the electroplasma into a horrific firestorm, and it was a war that Meibei was losing, but she kept working desperately. She couldn’t stop it, but she could make the explosion smaller, that wouldn’t wreck the entire saucer!

“Come on, come on, come on!” Meibei shouted as she worked, until finally a mighty roar from further down the tube shook her away. A great eruption of blue flame ran down the tube towards her at impossible speed, and Meibei screamed as the flames engulfed her…

The two weeks since the Nogura had arrived at Starbase 72 had been uneventful for the starship’s engineers. At Meibei zh’Khessi’s lead, they had worked tirelessly to undo the sabotage that their former captain had wrought, but upon actually arriving at the starbase, the urgency passed. They could simply shut down the warp core and impulse fusion reactors, turn off the lights and let the starbase staff do their work. With the Sovereign-class starship nestled within the immense structure of Starbase 72, safely docked at her berth, there was nothing for the engineers to do but leave the ship and enjoy their impromptu shoreleave.

Meibei was no exception. The extreme high warp pursuit and subsequent sabotage scare had pushed her to her physical and mental limits. Towards the end, her smiles had come less easily, her eyes growing ever more weary, her bubbly enthusiasm melting into determined effort. Thus, after relinquishing the Nogura to the starbase engineers (with some frank words spoken on how to respect the Nog), she set out onto the starbase to relax, enjoy herself and simply recharge. The starbase itself was akin to a huge city in size and population, so there were endless ways to amuse oneself. A nice refreshing dip into an ice pool, playing some games with some shipmates at an arcade, even a bizarre Vulcan comedy show.

Meibei had been the only one present laughing at the show, granted, but at least she thought it had been a comedy show.

Whatever she got up to, however, the chirpy Andorian always ended back in the Nogura’s engine room afterwards. She couldn't even quite explain it to herself. It was an itch in the back of her mind, a feeling in her antennae that she couldn’t quite shake whenever she looked at the ship’s status displays. The starbase engineers allayed her concerns, patiently showing the eccentric chief engineer that they had found all of the sabotage, and even Meibei had to admit that they’d done a great job. After ten days in dock, the Nogura was as good as new.

So why did she keep coming back?

It was on one of those days that Meibei once again found herself in the virtually deserted Engineering. She wore a strapless white dress, having been out partying with some friends on the starbase, and as had become their custom, the two starbase technicians manning the space paid her no need. Just like before, Meibei gravitated towards the status displays first, her eyes reading the numbers automatically and, just like before, finding nothing amiss. She really should go to bed, she knew, but she just wanted to check…

The doors to Main Engineering parted and the Nogura’s Executive Officer entered. The Trill woman looked around, expecting to find one of the fleetyard Engineers or possibly even Chief Carter doing another inspection, but instead she found the darling Andorian that made her heart skip a beat, especially in that dress…

“Meibei,” Tara said softly as she approached the Master System Display that seemed to have captured the Andorian’s attention. “I mean, Lieutenant… Uh, what are you doing here at this hour, aren’t you still on leave?” Tara asked. Using rank suggested she was distancing herself, but there was still a relaxed, comfortable quality to Tara’s tone around the little blue Engineer.

“Oh, hi Tara!” Meibei said with happy surprise, although her hand flew to her mouth as she realised. “Sorry, sorry, Commander Neprem. I’m...ya know, I was just bored and...um…” she trailed off, her hands working together nervously. It had been a while since she’d seen the gorgeous Trill redhead, after all; Meibei had forgotten just how one look from Tara could get those butterflies moving. “I mean, I was on leave. With my friends, at a dance club. But I just wanted to check on the engines, before I went to bed.”

“No… No, I don’t think so, Meibei,” Tara said, dropping all pretense of formality; after all, they were alone for the moment, so no one would notice! “You forget, I used to be an Engineer and I know an itch when I see one. What’s itching you tonight?” she asked.

“All the reports I’ve been getting from Master Chief Carter seem to indicate that all is well so far,” Tara said, but she could tell right away that it wasn’t helping to ease Meibei’s itch. “But your gut is telling you otherwise, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, kinda,” Meibei sighed. It felt even more ridiculous to confess this to Tara, especially since her friend looked immaculate (and rather dazzling) in her dress uniform, but the way that Tara looked at her wasn’t something that could be denied. Thus, reluctantly, Meibei began tapping at the console, cycling through various diagnostics, biting her lip as she worked. “So you’ve been really busy, with the fancy official things that have been happening, and I didn’t want to bother you with this. I can just feel it in my gut. I know Andy has been checkin’ everything, but...I can’t shake it, ya know? She don’t feel right. If I can just find the diagnostic...where was it...”

She paused, glancing back at Tara with a smile that was more like her usual merry self, if still nervous. “I wanted to ask you to come dancing with us tonight, but your combadge was offline. Because of the inquest thing, I guess. But maybe tomorrow night? There’s this really great place up on Deck 110. They do real sensual Earth dancing, but also some Romulan music too. It sounds real nice.”

“‘Sensual dancing?’ Oh my…” Tara said with a blush. “Uh, yes, I have been quite preoccupied with the conferences, so much so I haven’t even had a chance to walk my dog, but if you have a gut feeling about the Nogura, well I have time for it now. What doesn’t feel right?” She wished she could feel for herself, but stations, especially the Nor-class stations where she had spent most of her service, felt remarkably different from starships, so if there was some detectable nuance of the Nogura that was not right, Tara was completely oblivious to it.

“It’s the power distribution,” Meibei said as she finally found the right diagnostic. It had been done only three days prior, and clearly showed that nothing was amiss. “It looks fine, but it doesn’t look right. Like here. The port sensor array says it’s gettin’ a bit more power than it needs, so the EPS manifolds should be perfect, but the conduits there were real stressed before we got to the starbase. And there, that aft phaser emitter? It’s sayin’ that it ain’t getting as much power as it needs, but that don’t make sense either. We never used our phasers, and nothing else is run through those conduits. They should be perfect.”

Meibei’s antennae rolled back and forth in worry. “And these numbers, right now? They don’t...they don’t feel right. I know that they’re fine for a Sovvie, but the Nog ain’t a normal Sovvie like the Enterprise or the Hawaii. She’s not that well balanced.”

“I understand what you mean,” Tara replied with a nod. “Chief Carter once explained to me that two functionally identical ships off the same production line are not nearly as identical as one would believe; there are always minor differences between ships that make them unique, it’s part of what’s so important about a shake-down so the crew can establish what is ‘normal’ for that ship.” And unfortunately, the Nogura never had a standard shake-down, she went right into service immediately out of spacedock. Add to that, the Nogura was a more tactical variant of the standard Sovereign-class as well as containing some of the next generation functional upgrades, so it was no wonder some of these diagnostics had been dismissed.

“Individually, most of these numbers are meaningless, but putting them together, I am definitely seeing the same pattern that you are, and I am concerned,” Tara then said. She paused to watch more irregularities appear on the display. “We never were able to fully discern what th’Zorati was trying to do with his sabotage, but seeing this now as a whole, I think the Chief’s inspections may require greater scrutiny.” With a sigh, Tara turned to look at Meibei. “I believe this should be safe to leave for the next shift, and since the Chief just came off another double shift, wait until the morning to confer with her and then form an investigative team if you have to, but get to the bottom of this. I don’t care who you piss off in the process, we are not leaving spacedock until you feel this ship is ready to depart.”

Tara’s authoritative tone made Meibei grin, even giggling a little at how little Tara cared about annoying others. “Aye Cap’n,” she said brightly. Really, Tara was so hot when she was being bossy! “I’ll just check the manifold up on Deck 6, then I’ll go to bed, promise. It’s right next to my quarters, so it’s on my way and all.”

“No no, not ‘Captain’ anymore, though I was offered a promotion,” Tara said, attempting to suppress a smile. “I turned the offer down, so Drayton from the Ulysses will be taking over. Speaking of which, he wanted me to stop by his quarters to talk crew merger. Before you head up to deck 6, make a quick list of anyone you absolutely do not want to lose from your department, and we’ll take it into consideration. And please be careful while you’re checking the manifold; we don’t know what these irregularities mean just yet, so we don’t want to set anything off,” she continued, her voice growing in concern at the end.
“I’ll be careful, promise,” Meibei replied cheerfully, irrationally grateful that Tara accepted her instincts so readily and without scorn. Taking one last look at the ship status displays, she bounced on her toes with her habitual bubbliness before grinning at Tara again. “Good night, Cap’n,” she said happily, and without a care in the world, she bounced forward and gave her superior a chaste, friendly kiss on the cheek.

“And you’ll always be the captain to me,” she declared happily before turning about and walking out of Engineering, although she was so full of bubbliness that the perky Andorian was almost skipping as she went.

That little kiss had Tara’s heart skipping a beat as her cheeks flushed with color and her spots darkened. Tara raised her hand to touch her cheek, as though to confirm what she had felt was indeed true. Then at Meibei’s parting statement, Tara smiled with a shake of her head as she turned to briefly follow the peskily perky Andorian out of Engineering; Meibei was such a uniquely odd individual, like a force of nature, so beautiful and captivating, and now that a sense of normalcy was starting to return to the Nogura, Tara couldn’t wait to untangle the enigma that was Meibei zh’Khessi.]]>Thu, 03 Jan 2019 03:05:49 +0000No Regretshttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/264
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/264Mission - Episode 6: War CrimesLocation - Nogura Guest QuartersTimeline - MD135, 1530 Hours

Hanson stormed through the doors of his guest quarters on the Nogura and kicked off his shoes, hurling them towards the window on the opposite wall of the private abode. He had come straight from the inquest into the recent events and had not enjoyed the process at all. He had been questioned, queried and had his orders and advice criticised. He had been (in private) chastised for not using his rank to take over and more specifically, his advice not to chase down the terrorists in the Corridor. Then of course there was the apparent pardon that had been granted to Nathan Hunter by the Judge Advocate General. How the hell would he justify that to Andrea? It had to come from him before she heard it on the grape vine somewhere. Walking into his bedroom, he noted that she was not present and slumped to the bed, laying staring at the ceiling.

It would be near an hour later that Andy would finally return to their quarters. Thalek th’Zorati had apparently done quite the number to Nogura, and even all these weeks later they were still finding evidence of his machinations, and as one of the Engineers who had helped build the Nogura, so it had fallen to Andy to inspect as much of the ship as she could to make sure that all was well with her baby. As she entered the doors of their shared quarters, her intent had been to grab a shower before going to get JP from school, but she saw the boots thrown across the room and knew something bad had happened.

“Mitch?” the former drone called out as she peeled her sweaty duty jacket off. She peeked into his room and saw him sprawled out on the bed, then she sighed. “That bad, huh?”

“Worse…” he muttered quietly without moving.

With another sigh, Andy entered the room and tossed her jacket and then her yellow shirt onto a chair in the corner. “Jacket, shirt, off,” she said as she kicked off her boots and approached the bed. “Don’t worry, I ain’t tryna get into your pants, just gonna help you work out some of this tension while you unburden yourself,” she assured him.

Mitch huffed and puffed as he hauled himself upright and pulled his uniform jacket off, tossing it onto the nearby chair, swiftly followed by his red uniform undershirt. Before long, the Admiral was face down on the bed, resting his chin on his hands as he stared at the bulkhead in front. “Sitak ended the inquest today,” he revealed quietly, subdued.

“I heard,” Andy replied as she climbed on the bed and straddled his backside, then she leaned forward and began to work the knots and tension out of the muscles in his shoulders and back. “Tell me what you can,” she said softly as her hands worked their magic.

“Drayton and Tara were cleared of any wrongdoing. The blame was firmly placed on th’Zorati,” the older man told. “Sitak and the others clearly felt there was more that could have been done by others involved,” he huffed.

For a while, Andy said nothing, instead pondering his words as she rubbed at tired old muscles, moving her metal-tipped fingers up to his neck to focus on some knots that were no doubt giving him a headache, or at least contributing to a headache already in progress. “Remember when we were back on the Lexi and sometimes you would get conflicted about how to chastise me?” she said. “And I don’t just mean because of our relationship, you knew why I was acting out, you understood it was part of the healing process, but you still had to discipline me. We both had to come to an understanding that sometimes things needed to be said that neither of us was gonna like. Is it possible that you weren’t being blamed in the inquest, that it was something that needed to be said simply for the record?” Andy offered.

Mitch abruptly turned his torso to face his woman and looked at her with scorn filled eyes. “I was criticised for not taking command and hunting the bastards down. A Vulcan wanted me to usurp command from Tara and hunt the traitor and his accomplice down,” he told before returning to his previous position. “I hate Vulcan’s…” he muttered under his breath.

“Wait, I thought you liked Surak,” Andy remarked as she resumed massaging Mitch’s neck and shoulders, her reference being to his first Executive Officer on the Lexington.

“I changed my mind,” he moaned like a petulant child who had been told off by his parent.

Andy chuckled at his response, but then she grew serious as she watched him for a moment. “Didn’t mean to minimize the implications of what they may have said and make you mad, just thought a different perspective would help,” she said as a way of apologizing. “We both know they have to be critical of some decisions to make sure that everything possible was being done. Maybe if you weren’t there, they’d have been more critical of Drayton for not taking command, it was just the luck of the draw that this happened while we were on board.”

“I don’t think I can do this shit anymore…” he sighed in response as he felt her working the kinks out of his back.

“Do what?” Andy asked cautiously as her hands slowed to a halt.

Mitch turned his entire body around so he was now being straddled and he was looking up at his partner. “The job, this job. I’ve been pushed from pillar to post for months, one assignment to another. Starfleet isn’t what it used to be anymore and I’m fed up,” he explained, clearly frustrated at the situation he found himself in.

“Wow…” Andy said with surprise. It wasn’t like she’d never seen Mitch doubt himself before, but never like this; although he wasn’t so much doubting himself as he was his commitment to Starfleet. “How long have you felt this way?” she asked as she resumed massaging his neck, the new position proving to be more favorable for the knot she was working out.

“A while,” he confessed, “I applied for a new posting on Earth a few months ago, before you guys were back in my life, to try and get a bit of stability going. Despite my past, I wasn’t the right fit for the role,” he frowned.

“To be fair, we did take you away from any chance of making a good fit,” Andy said meekly, but she understood what he meant. “So… are you seriously thinking about retiring?”

“Why not?” Suddenly, his frown had evaporated as he sat up and rested on his elbows. “Imagine, if I retired and you resigned, we could go wherever we wanted, do whatever we wanted. Not to mention the fact that we could give JP a better life than he is having at the minute, going from place to place,” the older man almost sounded excited at the prospect.

“Wow,” Andy felt herself saying; the whole moment felt disembodyingly surreal and eerily familiar to the offer he’d once made her a long time ago. “I… I don’t know… I won’t deny that it does sound tempting, but I was finally starting to work towards earning a commission,” she admitted. After a moment of hesitation, she then asked, “For my part in this, can I have some time to think about it?” It wasn’t the outright rejection she’d given him years before, but last time she’d known for a while that Mitch would be moving on from the Lexington so she had been somewhat prepared for his offer, but now she was completely blindsided and she needed time to process and decide what she wanted. And anyway, she still didn’t really know what was going on with ‘them’, because as much as she wanted to jump his bones, there was still a distance between them and she was afraid he might push her away again if she tried to broach that subject too soon.

“Of course,” he nodded, lifting a hand and running it through her hair as he smiled. “I’m not saying we have to do it tomorrow or anything… just… you know… I’m not getting any younger and I was looking to the future for once,” he assured her, or at least tried to.

Andy was surprised by the gentle but familiar contact, and she found herself leaning into the contact as her eyes drifted closed. She wasn’t normally the ‘affectionate’ sort, but she was so afraid to hope that he was finally letting his walls down to let her back in, and she longed to be close to him again. “If you do resign, you’ll stay with us until I can decide what I want?” she asked, letting him hear the vulnerability she felt in needing him so much.

“Of course,” he smiled again before realising he hadn’t told her all his news, “Oh! I forgot. Drayton was given command of Nogura. Him and Tara will be wanting to get underway soon so you need to decide whether to stay or return to Ha’dara. Either way, I’ll be with you,” he told.

Great, more decisions! “Oh, right…” Andy replied, her shoulders slumping; she’d been so busy, it never crossed her mind that she’d have to decide what to do after she’d finished the inspection. Then out of habit, she slumped forward to lay on his chest and rest her head on his shoulder. “I can’t brain anymore today, you brain for me,” she said bluntly, finally remembering how tired she was now that she wasn’t so focused on his problems.

Subconsciously, the Admiral lifted his hand again and stroked her head in a loving gesture but what he did next was purposeful. He lent his head forward as far as he could and planted a kiss on the crown of her head. It wasn’t much, but he hoped she would see it as the gesture he meant it to be - a sign of thawing tensions.

As much as she wanted to lift her head to search his eyes for signs of hope that he was finally working towards reconciliation, the ex-Borg was still too afraid; she had hurt him so badly keeping JP a secret all these years, she didn’t deserve reconciliation or his affection, despite how much she wanted both.

“I miss you,” Andy said in a small voice. “I miss what we used to be…”

Lifting both of his hands, the Admiral gently grasped the sides of her head and lifted it so he could look into her eyes. After a few seconds, he lent forward and placed a gentle kiss on her lips before pulling away slowly. “We’re getting there,” he grinned. In truth, he missed it too. The last few weeks in particular had seen the family become much closer, even if he had yet to play the zombie holodeck game with their shared offspring.

Andy was slow to respond to his kiss, unable to believe that it was even happening, and just as she started to melt into the kiss it was over, and she looked down at him torn between desire and the need to punish herself. Desire eventually won out as she closed the distance for their lips to meet once again; even if all they shared tonight was this one last kiss, it was all she needed to assure her that he was finally warming to her once again.

Whatever awaited them around the corner, one thing was for certain; Hanson had his family back and for that, he was grateful. The lingering kiss an even clearer indication that things were clearly on the up.

Rather abruptly, Andy ripped her lips away from his, her breath heavy and her cheeks flushed with desire. She stared down at him for a moment before resting her forehead against his. “Tell me to go,” she said in a hoarse tone. “Tell me you’re not ready, and I’ll go,” she pleaded with him, ready to tear his clothes off of him if he hesitated too long.

Mitch gazed into her eyes, his own breathing rate increasing as he contemplated where things were headed. Placing his arm around her waist, he flipped her on to her back so that he was on top and in the position of power for once. “If we do this, there is no going back,” he whispered to her.

“I just need to know that this is what you want,” Andy said, reaching up to touch his face lovingly. “I know what I want, but what I don’t want is for you to wake up tomorrow with regret or for things to be awkward again.”

“I’m still here aren’t I?” he smiled before lowering his head for his lips to meet hers once again. If there were regrets to be had, they would not be his… not this time.

As one kiss bled into another, it just happened; the words passed through her lips without any input from her brain: “Marry me.” Hearing those words took her by such surprise that she gazed up at him with fear that she might have pushed ahead too far. And yet, there was a euphoria racing through her at having said those two simple words, and despite her worry she couldn’t stop herself from smiling like a love-struck idiot.

Mitch stared down at her beautiful face and for a split second there was an urge to pull away but then, almost as quickly as she had popped the question, he found himself giving an answer which caught him by surprise also. “If you’re ready to be the wife of an old, retired Admiral, then yes,” he grinned. Their relationship had gone from nought to sixty in a few short moments but it didn’t seem to faze either of them. Surely the path to true love couldn’t be that simple?

“Not ‘an old, retired Admiral,’ just you,” Andy replied in a surprisingly tender tone. Rank had never been an issue between them; sometimes the chain of command made things awkward, but his rank had never been a selling point nor a deterrent, she had always seen through the rank to be with the man, and now was no different. “Just you,” she repeated, then pulled him back down to reignite their kiss. It seemed she was going to be a little late picking up JP from school, but somehow she got the feeling that the boy wouldn’t mind...]]>Mon, 24 Dec 2018 00:36:29 +0000After a catalogue of mistakes, perhaps there is hope afterall?http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/263
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/263Mission - Episode 6: War CrimesLocation - Starbase 72Timeline - MD135, 1500 Hours

Wardroom Three on Starbase 72 had been in use for most of the last week as the inquest into the events involving the starships Nogura and Ulysses took place. The station had been a hive of activity with starships from far and wide stopping by as senior officers from across the sector and beyond had stopped by to partake in and listen to the evidence and testimony by all those involved. Among the honored guests were Admiral Zachary O’Connell (Commander Task Force 72 of the 4th Fleet), Vice Admiral Noah Ramsey (the Deputy Director of Starfleet Tactical), Vice Admiral Mitchell Hanson, Rear Admiral Vasoch Gor, Rear Admiral James Ryan (the former Executive Officer of Task Force 9 of the 4th Fleet) and the Nogura’s former commander, Commodore Nilani Azulas. Perhaps the most important of all the guests were Vice Admiral Sitak, the deputy Starfleet Judge Advocate General and Rear Admiral Jamtod Kriheg, the Bajoran who was the recently appointed Director of Internal Affairs at Starfleet Command. It was, perhaps, the largest gathering of top level brass outside of the core worlds since the war, such was the level of significance the inquest held.

From the perspective of Captain Colby Drayton and the crew of the Ulysses, the inquest had looked into the failure of the ships Quantum Slipstream Drive and the ships subsequent involvement in the events that had led to her destruction. The fact that the Galaxy-class starship had been lost was cause enough for a court martial, as was standard procedure after the loss of a starship, but again, these proceedings had an even greater significance.

That was all down to one man, Captain Thalek th’Zorati, and the events that had transpired aboard the Nogura. What had happened in the days following his taking command of the Nogura had been nothing short of catastrophic in the eyes of Internal Affairs and Starfleet Command. It had called into question a great many things.

Whilst Admiral Hanson, Rear Admiral Ryan and Commodore Azulas had all been cleared of having any involvement in the leak of classified information to the Consortium agents, with the blame there being laid at the feet of the Andorian who had been in command of the Nogura. The appointment of the Azulas’ successors had been nothing but a catalogue of failures. First there had been Lapzik Ghein, the man who had been swiftly replaced due to unforeseen circumstances. Then there had been Thalek th’Zorati, the man who had been appointed, ironically, due to the fears of Starfleet Command regarding the Nogura’s former executive officer, Audrid Kane.

Of course, there were other matters on the agenda such as the fact that the Consortium agent Monhok had been able to escape and presumably make his rendezvous with the Order of Twelve; the fact that th’Zorati had been able to sabotage the Nogura to such an extent that facilitated the aforementioned man’s escape, not to mention the murder of the intelligence asset and former commander of the Nogura himself, Captain Nathan Hunter.

Today was the day of the summing up; the time when the Judge Advocate General would offer her thoughts and opinions on the inquest and deliver her verdict and guidance for moving forward. The fact that the JAG was a Vulcan was seen as a positive - at least decisions would be made without the burden of emotion and based entirely on logic. Vice Admiral Sitak was highly regarded at Starfleet Command and was seen as a future candidate for Commander in Chief. Her promotion at the start of the Dominion War had catapulted the young Vulcan to fame. For now though, she sat behind a desk at the front of the room, the eyes of everyone assembled in the room focused on her as she sat in deep contemplation.

The entire senior staff of both the Nogura and the Ulysses were in attendance, along with various dignitaries and officers. At a smaller table between the Vulcan and the audience, the two senior most officers, one from each of the two ships, sat anxiously waiting to hear from the Vulcan.

To the right, Captain Colby Drayton, the former commander of the Ulysses, sat with his hands clasped together on the surface of the table, dressed in his fancy new dress uniform, as had been procedure throughout the inquest. To his left, Commander Tara Neprem, the acting commander of the Nogura, sat motionless, still.

Tara felt numb. She was still reeling from recent events, especially learning that Nathan Hunter had been killed; she knew in everyone else’s eyes that he had been a traitor and always would be, but he had still been her friend and he had managed to redeem himself somewhat by helping, and she’d had little time to grieve his loss.

Reaching out at last, the Vulcan took ownership of a small wooden gavel and gently tapped it on the side of a silver bell three times to call the proceedings to order and silence the waiting crowd. Once the hushed conversations had died down, the Vulcan looked towards the two seated officers before her. “Captain Colby Drayton. Commander Tara Neprem. Please rise,” she ordered politely, perhaps more politely than any other Vulcan would have.

Colby took a deep breath and pushed his chair back with the backs of his legs, his hands absentmindedly pulling on the bottom of his dress uniform jacket in order to smooth out any creases that had formed.

Tara rose in a likewise fashion, and after straightening out her duty jacket she folded her hands behind her back. She looked up at the Admirals with just the tiniest hint of disgust on her face; she did not recall any sort of inquest being called over Hunter’s betrayal and subsequent escape, why now was one being called for th’Zorati?

“This inquest has heard the testimony and evidence of countless personnel from both starships and beyond. It is clear that there have been a catalogue of errors leading up to the events that transpired on stardate ___, errors that directly link all of the events caused by Thalek th’Zorati,” the Vulcan began as she looked out at the audience and then between the two officers on their feet before her.

“Captain Drayton; it is clear that, after looking at the evidence, the failure of the slipstream drive aboard the Ulysses was precipitated by an act of sabotage that could not have been foreseen. You later rendered aide to a fellow Starfleet crew in a bid to capture a terrorist, a man who would have put many more lives at risk, and in doing so, you risked your ship and crew in the defence of the Federation,” Sitak explained in her quite, almost seductive voice.

Sitak changed her focus now. “Commander Neprem. As the senior most representative of the USS Nogura, it is pertinent that I apologise to you on behalf of Starfleet Command. The crew of the Nogura were placed in an extremely volatile situation through no fault of your own,” the Vulcan spoke much to everyone’s surprise. Was she demonstrating empathy?!

Some of the tension in Tara’s face finally began to melt away, as she nodded in acknowledgement of the Admiral’s words. “Thank you, ma’am,” Tara said humbly.

“The catalogue of errors relating to the appointment of a commanding officer for the Nogura directly led to these events. If Thalek th’Zorati had never been in command, then it is almost certain that none of the subsequent events would have occurred. I believe the negligence of your superiors put you and your crew at risk. You are to be commended for your ability to remain calm under such unusual circumstances,” Sitak declared in a rather public rebuke of the command officers who had appointed the very man who had caused the chaos of recent weeks. “I must also acknowledge the efforts of yourself and Commander Garen Romaes in your attempts to bring Thalek th’Zorati to justice. It is regrettable that he was able to escape custody, but that, again, is no fault of yours,” the Vulcan added with a stern nod to the woman opposite her. Nothing if not firm and fair in her summing up so far.

“With all due respect, ma’am, I still feel responsible; perhaps if I had been able to act just a little more quickly, maybe he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to escape,” Tara spoke up. “He is free to cause trouble for Starfleet in the Corridor, and that is my failing.”

“It is the failure of many more, including some in this room, rather than just you Commander,” Sitak assured her before leaning forward in her seat and placing her hands clasped together on the table top again. “There is, however, one event that I must regretfully attribute to your actions. Nathan Hunter’s death was entirely avoidable had he again been placed in custody in another facility on the ship. Your decision to let him remain in the Brig, as trusting as you were and how surprisingly loyal he was at the time, directly contributed to his death. As acting Commander of the Nogura, Nathan Hunter was your prisoner and your responsibility,” the Admiral informed sternly, a harsh lesson in command to be sure. “At this time, I feel it important to break with convention somewhat and disclose some information that has, until now, been classified. With the permission of the Director of Starfleet Intelligence, and no doubt to the annoyance of Admiral Kriheg, I must inform everyone that Nathan Hunter was a very misunderstood individual,” that was a phrase that resulted in a few murmurs around the room as officers in attendance wondered what she could possibly have to say about the notorious traitor. “At the start of the Consortium surge, then Captain Hunter was assigned to Starfleet Intelligence as an operative. He would later, as part of his cover, be granted command of the Nogura. During his first mission in command of the Nogura, Hunter was deemed to be a traitor and a Consortium agent. In truth, he was an undercover asset for Starfleet Intelligence,” the Vulcan revealed, to a sea of audible gasps and shocked faces from those around the room. The aforementioned Rear Admiral swiftly vacated the room, no doubt to lodge a complaint with Sitak’s superiors about her disclosure.

This revelation nearly broke Tara, and she took a measured breath to maintain her composure. It was comforting to know that her faith in Nathan had not been entirely misplaced, but the fact was that at some point the Consortium had managed to get through to him for real, because the real Nathan would have never risked the well-being of an innocent child, regardless of what his cover demanded. Swallowing past the lump in her throat, Tara nodded in acceptance of this truth, urging the Admiral to continue.

Colby stood beside his colleague and had to resist the strong urge to place a comforting hand on the woman’s shoulder. He’d learned a lot in the last few days about her troubled history with Nathan Hunter and knew this would have hit her hard.

“It is unclear when the Captain truly fell to the Consortium and whilst he did commit crimes, it is so often the case with undercover assets that they find themselves either believing in the cause of the very people they were sent to ensnare or having to carry out unspeakable acts to maintain their cover. There have been many claims about his actions, often with little more than circumstantial evidence, but it is my belief that in the days prior to his death, the old Nathan Hunter began to resurface. He provided evidence to bring down the downfall of Consortium agents and was playing a key role in the apprehension of a known asset. At a time when he was provided with both a means of escape and the means to kill again, Hunter rejected both. In doing so, he gave his life, once again, in service to the Federation. It is therefore my recommendation that his official record be restored and he no longer be considered a traitor. He was a lone Starfleet Officer who, at some point, seemingly lost his way. Eventually, he found his way home,” the Vulcan spoke meaningful words, words that evoked emotion and even she was able to ‘feel’ for the man.

A composed Admiral Sitak sat bolt upright as she prepared to deliver her final words. “Captain Colby Drayton,” she declared loudly, “It is my judgement that you are cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to the loss of the Ulysses. Commander Neprem; the death of Nathan Hunter and the escape of Consortium agents are all unfortunate events, but it is my belief that none of them were entirely preventable and certainly not by an officer propelled to command after the betrayal of her commanding officer. Therefore, it is the judgement of this inquest that no charges of any kind be brought. Whilst there are many lessons to be learned, by a great many people, no charge of any kind would provide those lessons.”

There was a cacophony of noise as whoops and cheers accompanied vigorous clapping at the conclusion of the Vulcan’s findings. Colby finally placed a gentle hand on the woman’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze of reassurance, along with a kind smile.

“This inquest is hereby adjourned,” the Vulcan called out over the noise as she drew attention back to herself one final time, almost with an air of pride in her voice as she again lifted the wooden gavel and tapped it against the bell three times to signal the end of proceedings before swiftly departing the room, followed by several aides.

Tara finally looked up at Drayton, a meek smile on her face as she gingerly touched the hand on her shoulder. It was a huge relief to know that neither of them were under any further scrutiny.

“So, what now?” the Trill mused aloud with a sigh. She supposed they would have to wait for their reassignments; Drayton needed a ship, and the Nogura needed a Captain, but would the two be placed together or would this reunion be short-lived?

Drayton shrugged as he made note of several people headed their way. “I guess that’s up to Starfleet,” he spoke quietly as he watched Admiral Hanson and Commodore Azulas swiftly leave the room, drawing the Commander’s attention to them. “That’s nice. You save her ship and crew and she can’t be bothered to even say congratulations,” he frowned.

“She might still be a bit miffed at me for a show of disrespect when we last spoke,” Tara admitted with a wince. “We were starting to become friends, good friends, but I knew something was going on, something bigger than what I was being told, so I felt the need to put some distance between us, emotionally speaking. I was just trying to protect her, but I get the feeling she doesn’t see it that way. I know she’ll come around once I explain thing, so truth be told, I’m more concerned with how Admiral Hanson is faring in all this; hearing that the man who kidnapped his son was in fact a compromised hero is probably not sitting well with him. Not to mention the fact that this whole ordeal could have easily crippled his career, if not ending it outright.”

“Still… respect is earned and you’ve done more than enough to warrant a pat on the back from the both of them…” he trailed off as he caught a glimpse of several Admiral’s in deep discussion. “Wonder what’s going on over there?” he queried as he nodded in their direction.

“I have no idea, but I now have the sudden urge to go get a drink once we’re out of here,” Tara blurted out, then flinched. “I am so sorry, sir, that sounded terribly unprofessional, I have no idea where that came from, I don’t even drink,” she apologized in a rush, blushing slightly. But she knew where the urge had come from, and his name began with an ‘A’ and ended with ‘rjin’.

The court martial being held aboard Starbase 72 had conveniently given Admiral Zachary O’Connell access to the proceedings and an unprecedented access to several key members of the top Starfleet brass. He’d even been questioned a few times by JAG officers to help them understand the Consortium as Zachary had played a key role during the original crisis in the Gamma Quadrant. He’d also taken the opportunity to brief the available brass on the situation with the Alrakis Pact and even this emerging Legion to see what sway they could have with the Federation Council.

With the brass now departing, Zachary was left to finish the final rounds of cleanup from the incident, which included issuing the orders to get several hundred Starfleet personnel and at least one starship back into service. With that mission as his directive, he approached the defendants. “Captain Drayton. Commander Neprem.”

“Admiral O’Connell Sir,” Drayton smiled as he went to a form of attention, his frame stiffening and his eyes locked on the superior officer.

“Sir,” Tara greeted as she straightened up as well.

“I’m impressed with your resolve, both of you,” the Admiral answered. “To me, that demonstrated that not only were you confident in your actions, but also the gravity of the situation as well. Congratulations.”

Colby exchanged glances with the Commander beside him and then back at the Admiral. “Well, thank you sir. It was the Commander mostly. She was right on the money and I followed her lead. Tara is to be commended, not me,” he told selflessly and every word true.

“Indeed she is,” Zachary said, turning to look at Commander Neprem. “This court martial provided a unique insight to your capabilities. I could certainly use another Commanding Officer in the Task Force. I have a couple ships in need of a solid command crew. One of them is yours.”

“Commanding Officer?” Tara replied with worry in her eyes. “No sir, I am not ready for Command just yet! Give me another year to gain some more confidence, but for now I am content to be right where I am; the Nogura is my home and I’m not ready to leave it just yet.”

The Admiral did his best to hide his frown, though he was less than successful. He did, however, understand her motives completely. “But we’re still left with a problem,” he observed. “The Nogura can’t leave dock without a CO. If you’re not ready for the center chair, I don’t suppose you know someone who is?”

“If I may be so bold, Admiral?” Drayton smiled as he held up his hand a little like a tentative school child. “I feel that Commander Neprem and I have struck up quite an understanding in recent weeks and would make an effective command team for the Nogura if she is not ready to take the chair herself and has no objections?” Drayton looked at the Trill then back at the Admiral, “unless you have other plans for me?”

Zachary turned to Captain Drayton and raised an eyebrow. “You sure, Captain?” he asked in a tone that lacked assurance. “Losing a starship is a traumatic experience, even for the most seasoned of officers. No one would blame you if wanted to take a desk job for a few months, or even a bit of leave.”

Colby shook his head and clasped his hands together behind his back. “Respectfully sir, now is not the time to wallow in self pity. There is work to be done,” the Captain declared proudly. He hadn’t served as long as he had to fall at the first major hurdle of his career.

The Admiral considered the Captain’s words for a brief moment. “Very well, Captain. I’ll have the orders cut within the hour. You’ve also got about three hours to select any crew from the Ulysses to join you on the Nogura. After that, I’ll have to start distributing personnel throughout the sector.”

“As you wish Admiral,” the Captain grinned, looking between his commanding officer and his new partner in crime.

“Congratulations again, Captain, Commander.” Admiral O’Connell gave them both a nod before backing away and leaving the new command duo of the Sovereign-class Nogura to it.

A delicate brow was raised at Drayton’s suggestion, but Tara said nothing until Admiral O’Connell was out of earshot. “I know we’ve been getting along well, but are you sure this is what you really want? I mean, won’t it be awkward for you after I’ve been giving you orders these past few weeks? Quite a bit like kissing one’s sister…” When she realized what had managed to slip out of her mouth, she blinked rapidly with flustered blush. “I-I’m sorry sir, it seems your presence brings out the worst in me, and by ‘me’ I mean Arjin,” she said as she tugged at her duty jacket to try to regain her composure; it surely wasn’t the first time something like this had slipped out around Drayton.

Drayton couldn’t help but let out a sudden burst of laughter at the womans comment and subsequent awkward apology. In a friendly gesture, the Captain slapped the woman on the back and gestured with his head for the door. “If you can adjust to taking orders from me, I can adjust to giving you them. Besides,” he gave her a cheeky grin at this point, “surely it’s a case of ‘better the devil you know’ at this point?”

Tara nodded in agreement as she began walking with Drayton to leave the conference room. “Based on Arjin’s memories of you, I feel reasonably certain that you will never betray Starfleet, and how you responded during th’Zorati’s betrayal was further assurance,” the Trill remarked as she folded her hands neatly behind her back. “I hope you’ll forgive me for having to consider such things, but it’s inevitable after watching two Captains betray their oaths.”

“Those scumbags destroyed my starship. I won’t rest until justice is served,” Drayton’s facial expression changed as he became more serious all of a sudden. She had been betrayed and he had suffered every commanding officers nightmare. Together, they had suffered greatly. “But before we can ensure justice is served, we must get our girl running again. I’d like to meet in, say, thirty minutes to discuss the merger of the two crews, then we can submit the final crew roster to the Admiral. How about a celebratory drink in my fancy new quarters?” he asked, his original demeanour returning as he thought about how to move forward.

Normally, Tara didn’t drink, but this was a special occasion and she understood the human need to commemorate this new relationship with a drink, and surely he would not encourage her to imbibe to embarrassment as Azulas had done… “Yes, that is acceptable,” Tara replied with a sure nod. “But first, I would like to check in with Engineering to see how repairs are going, so can we make this ‘date’ in an hour?”

“I’ll see you in an hour Commander,” Drayton nodded before disappearing off down one of the Starbase’s many corridors.

“I’ll be there,” Neprem said as she too turned down a different corridor. Time would tell if her decision to turn down Command was a good one or not, but she was already feeling confident that her new CO was a good one at last.]]>Sun, 23 Dec 2018 20:12:46 +0000Right-Hand Manhttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/270
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/270Mission - Episode 6: War CrimesLocation - Main SecurityTimeline - MD135, 0900 hours

Jamie sat at his desk catching up on security team rotations and leave schedules. At the same time, rumbling int he back of his head was thoughts about the several changes that have occurred aboard the Nogura over the past couple of weeks. Just as he was getting used to a captain, a new captain comes aboard. On top of that, there were a number of personnel changes occurring throughout nearly all departments. While his job was safe for the moment, he wondered for how long and what he needed to accomplish to maintain his current posting. As far as he could tell, guaranteeing his place among the staff was likely simple as continuing to exceed the XO's and captain's expectations in performing the daily duties of his position. This was easier said than done though. Over the past couple of weeks, not only has he been spending late nights ensuring that shift assignments and rotations are complete, he has also been spending his off time completing equipment inventories and training on the holodecks.

Until now, he had not considered the possibility of asking for help. He certainly would not reach out to the XO to avoid giving the impression that he could not handle his duties. But he had also not considered delegating some tasks that he did not necessarily have to complete himself. Hopefully the decision he was making was the appropriate one. Before he could ponder the question further, he was alerted to the presence of someone on the other side of the door. He quickly straightened up his desk by stacking the mess of PADDs to his left.

"Come in" he replied to the chime. The hatch slid aside revealing Jason Mallory. Jamie stood up to greet Jason as he made his way to the chair positioned in front of the desk. Jamie smiled and reached out his hand to greet the fellow officer. Jason was not typically one to smile but did display a slight grin and he shook his superior officer's hand. Upon releasing his grip, Jamie gestured to the chair as an invite to sit. Both sat in their respective chairs and Jamie began to speak.

"How has everything been lately?" He asked, making small talk before he got to the reason for the meeting.

Jason looked away for a moment, almost as if he was avoiding the question. "I've seen better days," he said, pausing for a moment before looking back at Jamie, "but, things are going well."

Jamie could agree with that. Since their first meeting on the holodeck months ago, a friendship had started to grow. However, due to the pair’s current positions within the department, Jamie has kept the friendship professional with clear boundaries. Nonetheless, since that day on the holodeck, Jason has become a stronger officer and security team leader. "I am glad to hear it, Jason" Jamie validated. "How is the counseling progressing?" He asked next. It had been a few months since their initial meeting on the holodeck, but Jamie did not know of any indication that Jason was not getting the help he needed to process the events of the battle with the Consortium.

Jason sat up straighter and became rigid in his chair. "Well..." he paused. "I haven't seen the counselor yet" he responded with somewhat of a shameful tone, looking away from Jamie.

This revelation did not anger Jamie as it would have a few months ago. Since, the pair had developed a positive but professional relationship. What he felt now for Jason was concern. Concern that the longer he went without processing the trauma, the more it will cause problems in his work and relationships. Jamie leaned forward over his desk before speaking.

"Jason," He began. "The situation with remnants of the Consortium is only going to get worse," he explained with a friendly voice. "Without help, the things you experienced at their hands will only get worse."

Jason fidgeted in his seat before looking at Jamie. "We don't know that. So far, I have been able to keep everything at bay" Jason replied, also with a friendly tone of voice. When he noticed Jamie about to speak, he interrupted with, "besides, it has been several months since I've had to deal with any of it and I didn't need counseling," he explained preemptively.

Now becoming slightly frustrated with his friend's inability to accept the truth of the situation, Jamie lunged backwards in his chair. "Jason, it is only a matter of time before we face someone or something that is going to bring back those feelings you had then. What is going to happen then?" He asked as genuinely as possible. He knew Jason was a stubborn man, but he had not realized until now that he was still in denial.

"I'll deal with it if that happens. Just like I always do," Jason said with a slight annoyance in his tone of voice. He did not want to have this argument again.

Jamie recognized the frustration in his voice and decided to defuse the conversation before it became hostile. Again, he moved forward in his seat before speaking. "Look Jason," He said before pausing to ensure that Jason was listening. "I cannot afford to lose anyone else in this department. Especially if the situation in this quadrant worsens. I need to know that I count on you to reach out for help before something bad happens."

Jason thought about Jamie's words for a moment, looking around the room while doing so. He knew that Jamie was only trying to help him and did care about him. But he knew that he could also take care of himself. "I'm fine Jamie," he said confidently. "If that changes, you will be the first to know...unless you are ordering me to see the counselor?"

Jamie pondered Jason's question for a moment. He did not want to order Jason to see the counselor. After all, he knew from experience and education in the field that real healing cannot begin unless the wounded is ready and willing. Ordering his friend to undergo counseling could simply lead to minimal therapeutic value and harm the pair's relationship. Jamie shook his head and faced his friend.

"No, I am not ordering you," he said, wondering if he made the right decision. Despite the potential consequences of damaging the relationship, he also had to protect his department and the ship. In doing so, he also had to ensure that each crewman and officer under his charge was one-hundred percent duty ready. The question that stood in the back of his mind was whether Jason was ready and able to perform his duties when the time comes.

"Thank you," Jason replied somewhat solemnly. "If it comes to it, I will do what is necessary to ensure I am not compromised."

"Glad to hear it," Jamie said enthusiastically, genuinely happy to hear Jason's reply. "Now," he began, lightening up the conversation. "The actual reason I asked you here was to discuss the potential of you moving into a new position within the department." Jason's demeanor changed for the positive as his eyes widened and his ears perked up.

"What position is that?" he asked, already knowing what position Jamie was likely talking about.

"Simply put, I need an assistant tactical officer," Jamie announced while watching Jason's reaction. This was the first time he had brought up the position to Jason and honestly was not sure if he would be interested. However, from the looks of it, he certainly seemed interested.

"I am interested," Jason replied as calmly as possible to avoid seeming as if he were about to jump out of his chair. Truth be told, he was doing all he could to keep himself from exploding from the chair in celebration.

"Good!" Jamie replied, almost with a burst of relief he had to reel back in. He could not decide whether he was happier that Jason had accepted the position or about having someone to share the workload with. Either way, his long hours and overwhelming work schedule were about to change with Jason's help. He relaxed in his chair and slid back to stand up. "First things first Assistance Tactical Officer," he said reaching for a PADD set aside from the others. "Most of the rotations are scheduled for the next two weeks but I would like you to schedule the rest," he ordered, handing the PADD to Jason. Without hesitation Jason stood from the chair and latched onto the PADD.

"Done," Jason replied with confidence and a smile.

"Good. Now get to it," Jamie answered with a smile. With a smile and a lazy bow, Jason spun around on his heals and exited the office. With a sense of relief and accomplishment, Jamie exhaled, smiled, and sat down to get back to work. ]]>Sun, 13 Jan 2019 00:22:20 +0000Escape Artisthttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/262
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/262Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Deflector Maintenance BayTimeline - MD120, 1705 Hours

Deep in the bowels of the mighty Sovereign-class starship, far from the chaos of the Ulysses evacuation and the power failures, the deflector maintenance bay was a hive of activity. Not with people, but with consoles and computers at work. The lone occupant of the room was busy making several predictions and running simulations to judge the effectiveness of his planned action, an action that would no doubt bring the ship to its knees if he had his way.

The first of his objectives was complete; he had terminated the threat to his continuing mission. With Hunter out of the way, no further intelligence would be shared with the Starfleet peta’q’s that were proving to be more than a nuisance. Now, he had to set the wheels in motion that would burn down the Starfleet presence in yet another area of space that they had no business being in.

In the corridor outside the maintenance bay, Tara and Romaes approached cautiously. “I think we should play ignorant, act like we didn’t even know he was there, that we were just checking all systems and see how he responds,” she suggested in a hushed tone. They were both armed with Type 1 phasers which were easily concealed so as not to present themselves as a threat.

“Why would two command officers be in the deflector maintenance bay?” Romaes asked with a smirk and a raised eyebrow as he stopped dead in his tracks. “If we act dumb, he’ll see right through us. We should just make it clear we know what he is up to and we are there to stop him,” the Bajoran suggested as he folded his arms across his chest.

“If I go in alone, I could say I noticed something I wanted to check on personally; I used to be an Engineer, and I get the impression he doesn’t think very highly of me as a Command Officer, so he might buy it,” Tara replied. “Although, the direct approach does sound appealing as well; I’m not usually the violent sort, but my previous host is really building up the urge to punch him in the face.”

“Yet if I go in first, I can convince him I am there to help him, let you catch him off guard,” Romaes suggested.

Tara very nearly shook her head at this idea, thinking that his loyalties were too strained, but then she remembered that not too long ago, she had been in the exact same position, and so she resolved herself to trust him to do the right thing.

“Okay, I’ll stay out in the hall, you get him to let his guard down,” Tara replied with a nod.

“Hang on,” the Bajoran looked towards the door of the maintenance bay. “We know where he is, why don’t we just beam him to the brig?”

“Because the forcefields in the brig were down when I left, beaming him there wouldn’t amount to much except putting Security and our prisoner at risk if he’s armed,” Tara replied dryly.

Romaes took a deep breath and walked towards the door, stopping just before the door sensor triggered. “I have a bad feeling about this…” he muttered, looking back at the Commander. “Maybe we should go together afterall?”

Tara could certainly relate to his feeling of unease, and she nodded and strode over to his side. “I know this is hard, so let me know now if you can’t do this,” she said gently. “We can always come up with another plan; maybe we could transport him to the Cargo Bay where a Security team is waiting for him?”

“Let’s just do this together. Confront him, take him down,” he told with a hopeful smile. He had changed his mind. Working alone wasn’t a great idea.

“Okay,” Tara said, gazing at Romaes a moment longer to make sure he was alright. Then she stepped forward to trigger the door sensor, and upon entering the bay she looked around to try to find th’Zorati.

The Andorian was at an aft console, tapping away furiously as he heard the door open. He spun around the console and hid behind it. “I know why you are here!” he yelled in anger.

So much for any attempt to play dumb… “Thalek th’Zorati,” Tara called out as she moved closer to the aft consoles, pausing at a cautious distance. “Please don’t make this more difficult than it has to be; think of your daughter, because right now she’s sitting on the Bridge and she’s so confused about the questions we had to ask her.”

“She knows the risks of her job,” Thalek called out from behind the console as he pulled a device from his pocket and reached over, placing it on the console. “If she dies, it’s Starfleet’s fault, not mine!” he roared.

Tara wasn’t going to argue logic with a man who was clearly so deranged, but she was hoping that his desire to protect his own child would kick in, so she stepped closer to the nearest console and with a few keystrokes a live feed from the Bridge was on every available screen, the focus on Tempestava th’Zorati.

“She doesn’t know what you’ve become, Thalek,” Tara spoke up, returning her gaze to the device he had placed on his console; she wanted to destroy it, but she was worried it could be some sort of trigger, and destroying it could set the ship off… “We didn’t tell her what you’ve done, and if you turn yourself in, we’ll let you speak with her and you can explain yourself,” Tara offered.

“Tempestava, like you, is a Starfleet idealist and you are all the same. I realised a long time ago that I no longer believed in your ideals. I chose to bide my time and when I got the chance to fight for what I do believe in, I took it,” Thalek called out as he rose up from behind the console now that his device was in place. “I remember when Nathan Hunter used to be an idealist like you,” he spoke with a bitterness not yet seen as he lifted a phaser up.

There were few things in this galaxy that were as strong as parental instincts; with a few very rare exceptions, such drives seemed to be a universal standard, yet whatever was causing Thalek to betray his oath to Starfleet also appeared to be completely overriding the need to protect his daughter. No choice, no matter what he genuinely believed, could cause this level of irrationality, this had to be the brainwashing she’d heard of, and whatever techniques were used, this new programming was dug in so deeply that reason would not be able to reach him. Nathan was right, she would have to kill him, and so she raised her phaser and aimed it at Thalek.

“It’s called integrity, Thalek, not idealism,” Tara replied; she wasn’t ready to give up on reason before she had to fire, so she tried one last time to reach him, yet she also hoped against hope that Romaes was in position and ready to react. “You used to believe in integrity; I know you taught it to Tempestava. She may have wanted to get out from under your shadow, but she is who she is because of you: a strong woman and a driven Officer.”

“None of that matters now,” Thalek shook his head slowly as he took a few steps from his console. “In just a matter of minutes, Tempestava, you, even you Romaes,” he turned his head swiftly to lock eyes with the Bajoran he had been tracking thanks to his antennae, “you will all be dead. Just like that traitor in the Brig,” It was then that an evil, sinister smirk filled the Andorian’s aging face as he looked back at the woman his phaser was trained on. He’d taken the life of her former commander and friend, now he was going to take hers too. Nothing, not even his daughter’s presence on the ship would stop him.

All the color drained from Tara’s face; Nathan was dead?! A lesser person would have fired at Thelek in that instant, seeking revenge rather than justice, but with a swipe of her thumb over the phaser controls, she increased the power of her phaser and then fired it at the console the device was attached to, causing the console to explode and shower a brilliant spray of plasma at Thalek.

Diving for cover behind a second console, Thalek lifted his left sleeve to reveal a device around his wrist. Pressing it with the palm of his opposite hand, the man was engulfed in a beam of light and disappeared just as Romaes dived to apprehend him. The Andorian was gone.

Scrambling to his feet, the Bajoran wiped down his trousers and composed himself. “Dominion transporter. No doubt linked to one of those ships out there. My bet is they are now in full retreat,” the strategist revealed as he looked at the woman.

“Okay, repair crews should be around any minute to untangle the mess he’s made of our ship, we need to get to the Bridge and prevent his escape,” Tara said, resisting the urge to grab some tools and start working; she wasn’t an Engineer anymore, it was important that she recognised where she was needed most. She disabled her phaser and tucked it away, then started walking. “When we get there, I need you to confirm the status of Hunter, and if he really is dead, I need to know why we weren’t informed immediately; I sent security into the Brig right after I left, we should have received some sort of alert.”

“Yes Captain,” the Bajoran nodded as he quickly fell into step behind her. It was the first time he had called her the symbolic rank but it clearly meant something. She had been right; he had doubted her, but she had been right about everything and there needed to be some reward for that.

With a scoff, Tara rolled her eyes. “I appreciate the vote of confidence, but since I have no intention of retaining command of the Nogura once this is over, ‘Commander’ will do just fine.”

After a brief but silent ride in the lift, the two Officers were deposited on the Bridge where Tara was quick to make her way to the command pit.

“Have the Dominion ships broken away?” Tara asked as she approached Admiral Hanson, who had been keeping watch in her absence.

The Admiral rose from the command chair and gestured to the screen before them. In the far off distance, three Dominion vessels could be seen fleeing the Nebula. Hanson had been close to setting a course to follow but computer systems were not helping.

Tara released a slow breath as she watched the screen. Should they follow or not? They were hardly in any condition to pursue, but they couldn’t let th’Zorati get away! They had already decided to let one fugitive to escape, but could they really justify letting a second fugitive escape as well?

“Your advice on how to proceed would be greatly appreciated,” Tara said in a subdued tone to the visiting Admiral.

“We could chase them down,” Hanson nodded slowly as he watched the escaping vessels, “but we are suffering computer failures, we are over capacity on personnel and Monhok has already demonstrated his ability to destroy one starship with ease. The risk to life, right now, is too great in my opinion,” the guest revealed as he looked at the Trill and let out a half smile. “I think our part here is done Commander,” he concluded.

Not too dissimilar from that point she’d made in the briefing room not too long ago, but it still wrenched Tara’s gut at the simple consideration of letting Thalek go.

“Very well, let them go. Helm, resume our course for Deep Space 10 at the best possible speed as soon as we are able,” Tara said with muted resolve, a sour taste in her mouth at the very words. But Hanson was right, just as she had been earlier; there was simply too much at stake to risk pursuing the fugitives now. Turning to look away from the view screen with the retreating Dominion ships jumping to warp, her eyes fell on the Captain’s chair, which was free for her to occupy now. Taking a seat in the center chair with great hesitation, Tara didn’t envy the next Captain who came along to command the Nogura, but she was definitely ready to give that responsibility to someone else.
]]>Sat, 22 Dec 2018 23:26:25 +0000Small, Blue and Fiercehttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/260
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/260Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - EngineeringTimeline - MD120, 1700 Hours

Power had fluctuated across the ship and various systems had gone down with no apparent explanation. Captain Drayton had made his way to engineering at the behest of Admiral Hanson. He'd drafted in his own officer that he was familiar with, Commander Millarini, and the two entered the hectic engineering bay of the mighty Sovereign-class starship. "I'm looking for a Lieutenant zh'Khessi," the Captain called out in order to make the engineers acquaintance.

"Hi!" came a loud jovial response from high above, although it wasn't immediately apparent when the sound came from since, seemingly, it came from the ceiling near the top of the warp core. Moments later, the cause became obvious as a blue head poked down through an open hole in the ceiling, grinning at the two newcomers from above. "I'm Lieutenant zh'Khessi. Just gimme a minute to settle up, would ya? I'll be down in a second, promise."

The head disappeared. Perhaps anticipating the possible response, a rather weary-looking Vulcan petty officer approached the captain and commander. "Our apologies, Captain. The lieutenant was making some repairs to a secondary EPS conduit that suffered damage during our journey at high warp from Deep Space Nine. She should be down momentarily." The Vulcan paused before adding quietly, "I should advise you that she is most eccentric. I value my superior officer's competency highly, but you should be prepared to cope with excessive joviality."

Drayton and Millarini shared a look of concern at the suggestion that the Andorian was, perhaps, not taking things seriously.

A couple of minutes later, a rather merry (if positively filthy) Meibei zh'Khessi walked through the doors of Main Engineering, smiling at the newcomers. The Andorian chief engineer looked exhausted, sweat-soaked and in desperate need of a shower, but her spirit did not seem to have dimmed in the least.

"Cap'n, Commander," she greeted them cheerfully. "What can we do you for?"

"We have ship wide power outages and system failures. Commander Neprem and I want to know what's going on," the Captain demanded with his arms folded across his chest in defiance.

"Oh, you want to know what's going on, do ya?" Meibei retorted sarcastically, instantly stirred to indignation, her antennae splayed. "Do ya see this, Cap? This is a warp core. All kinds of matter and antimatter floatin' around, firing off energy every which way. And do ya know what this warp core has been doin' for the past twenty hours? It's been going full blast at warp 9.92, half a thought away from an M/AM overload, way past what it was built to do. So I'm sorry, Cap, but yeah, there'll be issues. If you push a ship long enough, then she'll crack on ya, and it'll take me a good long while to fix her up."

Drayton did not take kindly to the Andorian's sarcastic tone and decided to combat it with a stern expression and a suggestion of his own. "Perhaps if you are not able to keep the warp core running efficiently, I should replace you with Commander Millarini here," the Terran spoke sternly, yet quietly.

"Oh, and can she keep the EPS network in balance when there's a bunch of residual charge from the saucer?" Meibei countered, crossing her arms. "Or keep the dilithium recrystallised and still be able to go to warp? Huh? Oh, I'm sure that Commander Millarini here is very good and smart and a high rank and...ya know...probably a real good engineer..." Meibei's anger fizzled out as soon as it had come, and she smiled meekly at the blonde human who'd come with the captain. "But I I swear, I ain't movin' an inch until Captain th'Zorati or Commander Neprem come down here and tell me so. No one can handle this engine better than I can, and right now, no one knows better than me what kind of hardship this girl has been under the past day."

She stopped, plainly thinking of something else to say, before awkwardly straightening her back defiantly. "And that's final," she finished, scowling petulantly, her antennae aimed forward at Drayton like tiny blue weapons. It would've been an impressive display of anger if Meibei wasn't obviously trying so very hard to be authoritative and decisive. The end result was more adorable than intimidating.

"A word Lieutenant. In private," Drayton spoke with a smirk, and waved the Andorian over to a corner where they could talk alone.

"Uh...okay," Meibei said, mystified by the stranger's change of tone. Glancing back at her engineers, she wordlessly shooed them back to work before following Drayton to relative privacy out of earshot.

"You've got guts, Lieutenant. I don't think anyone's spoken to me like that since, well, ever," Drayton smiled for a split second before changing his demeanour. "You clearly haven't heard, but Captain th'Zorati has resigned his commission. Commander Neprem has been placed in acting command and I have agreed to assist her until we reach DS-Ten. We have reason to believe the system failures may be the result of sabotage, rather than the core itself and Commander Millarini and I are here to assist you in finding out if our concerns are warranted or not," in thirty seconds he had divulged as much as possible, and information that would no doubt come as a shock to the engineer.

"He...and Tara...in command...sabotage? What?" Meibei flustered, her mouth wide open in shock. She wiped her sweaty forehead, fatigue briefly showing in the lethargic motion. "I mean...okay, it could be sabotage, I guess, but I don't see how. I've had my head stuck up that warp core's tushie all day, and it's workin' fine as a whistle besides the high warp strain. And I've had people checking every primary and secondary EPS conduit, fixin' 'em, ya know? So if someone is wreckin' my ship, then it has to be sneaky. Sneaky and evil. So if I was sneaky and evil, how would I..."

And then she snapped her fingers in revelation. "Computer core. We've got two, one for the saucer, one for the stardrive, because of the saucer separation thing. Argh! If someone screwed up the software, I'll smack 'em. Smack 'em real good."

"So, what are your orders Lieutenant?" Drayton smiled, arms folded across his chest as he looked at her. He liked her already.

"Wait, you're asking me for orders?" Meibei asked, perplexed, but she shrugged it off nervously. "Okay! So if you two both handle the inspection of the computer cores, we'll keep on monitoring the engines and power distribution. The Nog can run off one core easy, so it won't matter to us, and we can keep on fixin' stuff while you tear apart the computer core. The isolinear chips, the processors, the multitronic parts, just yank 'em out hard 'till you find something wonky. It's real dirty to mess with a ship's computer, but I bet ya that's where it is if they've done it."

"Understood," Drayton nodded, looking across at Commander Millarini and then gesturing, with a nod of his head for her to depart the engineering facility. With another last look and smirk at the Andorian, Drayton followed the blonde engineer out of the bay.

Completely flummoxed, and still somewhat hot under the collar at the thought of someone sabotaging the Nogura, Meibei got back to work. It was only much later that her tired brain realised where the strangers had come from.]]>Tue, 11 Dec 2018 18:29:43 +0000Competing for Commandhttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/261
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/261Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Ready RoomTimeline - MD120, 1630 Hours

The ride up to the Bridge was the longest turbolift ride Tara had ever experienced. She was thankful the backup generators were able to keep the lifts moving, and at normal speed, but it still felt like it was taking forever! Each second that ticked by in the small cabin made it feel like the walls were creeping closer as the weight of their situation pulled at Tara’s conscience. She felt no closer to any answers than she had before, but she had a direction and purpose, and nothing was going to deter her, not even the tightening of her chest and her shallow rapid breaths.

”You can’t keep doing this to yourself,” the voice of Kareel rose up in the back of her mind, Neprem’s first host and a gentle, nurturing voice of sound reasoning when she needed it. ”If you keep pushing it all down, someone will eventually notice.”

Tara knew this, but right now was not the time to let herself break down, the Nogura needed her Commanding Officer, and right now that was her. Breathing through the panic attack that gripped her so tightly that she felt like was about to break, she slowly calmed the racing of her heart. For just a split second, she was actually glad that the lift ride was taking so long, because she had the time to calm herself and regain her composure. By the time the door opened out onto the Bridge, Tara looked cool and calm as usual, her uniform straight and neat as always.

“Status report!” she called out as she made her way across the Bridge to the command pit, hoping that the crew had discovered whatever was happening to the Nogura.

“Engineering reports power outages and system failures across the ship,” Commander Garen called out from the executive officers chair next to Captain Drayton who had assumed the command chair at the behest of Admiral Hanson in the wake of th’Zorati’s resignation.

“And the cause?” Tara asked as she stood in front of the Command chair with her hands folded neatly behind her back, staring at Drayton as he remained seated. So, Nathan was right...

“Unsure at present,” the Commander revealed, glancing awkwardly at Neprem and then at Drayton. He could sense the tension levels rise the minute the Commander had returned to the bridge. Command was never an easy task and this was going to be even harder given the presence of a Captain but the lack of an appointed one.

Drayton remained focused on the Trill in utter silence as he watched the woman for her reaction. Would she roll over and accept his natural authority?

With a tilt of her head and just a hint of a sigh, Tara smiled at Drayton. “Thank you for keeping my seat warm, Captain. I need to ask you to mind the Bridge just a moment longer while I speak to Commander Garen in my office, and could you find Tempestava th’Zorati; she was on your crew, was she not?” Not waiting for a response, she turned for ‘her’ office, the Ready Room just off the Bridge, the office reserved specifically for the Commanding Officer.

Drayton and Garen shared an exchange of glances as the Commander made her way to the ready room, resulting in the Bajoran rising to his feet and heading off to follow after her. It appeared that the Captain had got his answer.

Entering the room behind the Commander, Garen came to a halt just inside the doors as they closed behind him. “How can I assist you, Commander?” he queried. The situation was hard for the Bajoran. He had come aboard with th’Zorati, he acknowledged Neprem’s claim to the top job but he was also close friends with Captain Drayton. Talk about split loyalties.

Tara took a seat behind the desk, then with a gesture of her hand offered him the opportunity to sit across from her. “I need to know everything that you and Thalek th’Zorati discussed with each other,” the Trill said bluntly. “He seemed intent on keeping me out of the loop, and with his resignation, I need to know what he knows, or at least what he shared with you.”

Garen shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He had thought about taking the opportunity to sit, but her question changed his mind. “Respectfully, ma’am, I feel that question should be directed to Captain th’Zorati,” the Bajoran commented,opting to remain standing opposite the Commander. He was obviously not involved in the recent conversations that had led to the Captain’s sudden resignation, but he still felt it disrespectful to disregard the mans rank.

“I have my reasons for asking you,” Tara replied plainly, first and foremost was that Tara had already checked Thalek’s quarters where he should have been, and no surprise the man wasn’t there. “I can make it an order if necessary, but I would rather we do this amicably. Please, Garen, I need to know anything he shared with you.”

“Why?” Garen asked as equally plainly. “If the Captain had felt it important that you know, I am certain he would have told you. What we discussed was on a need to know basis,” the Bajoran told as he eventually sat down. He was in an awkward position here and he had to tread carefully.

Why? Captains were not required to explain themselves to their subordinates, but Tara was hardly a Captain, even if she was trying to fill the roll temporarily. She studied the man now sitting across from her with great consideration; just as Neprem had a past with Drayton, so too did she have one with Garen, and she wondered if that was the reason he was being difficult with her now. After all, Arjin had been a pain in the ass to Garen, but it was just to try to make the man laugh! Because who wouldn’t love a poker tournament in their office?

No, this wasn’t about the past, Tara was clearly not Arjin, but she couldn’t connect with Garen, and if she couldn’t then he wouldn’t give her what she needed, at least not without being ordered to, and she suspected that might send the Bajoran back to Drayton. No, she needed him on her side right now.

“I have reason to believe that former Captain th’Zorati may be responsible for what is happening now,” Tara finally said earnestly. “It’s little more than a hunch; I just find it suspicious that as soon as he resigns, that the Nogura, a brand new ship, begins malfunctioning. And I believe that he kept me in the dark because of my connection to Nathan Hunter. I think he couldn’t risk letting anything slip, fearful I might make a connection, a connection that Hunter did confirm to me just a short while ago. Now, will you please tell me what the two of you discussed?”

“That’s absurd,” Garen scoffed as he relaxed back in his chair, shaking his head as he folded his arms across his chest. “May I remind you that Captain th’Zorati was appointed to this command by Admiral Archer and is highly regarded in strategic circles. I think you should make sure you have more than your little hunch and the words of a convicted traitor before you slander a respected commander who, until just a short time ago, was your superior officer as well as mine,” the Bajoran countered sternly as he rose to his feet. How dare she side with a traitor over a loyal officer?

“And need I remind you that former Captain Nathan Hunter was also highly regarded by the admiralty when he was appointed to the old Nogura, and I believed he was beyond reproach even as I hunted him for the abduction of Admiral Hanson’s son. I appreciate that you want to believe the best about th’Zorati, and if I am wrong then I will make a public apology to make amends, but if I am right… Garen, please consider the consequences if I am right. And don’t think I’m simply taking this on Hunter’s words, I know that man would tell me anything if he thought it could improve his situation; something has felt off about th’Zorati ever since we met, and as much as you respect him, I have feeling that you noticed it too, you just don’t want to see it,” Tara implored.

Garen stood motionless, staring down at the woman in silence. Eventually he spoke again. “We discussed many things. Chiefly among them, the likely targets for Consortium led operations in the alpha quadrant and probable locations for hideaways in the corridor,” he lowered himself into the seat again and continued his response. “Intelligence has indicated that Monhok is not the first operative to have made inroads into the Gavarian area. We have reason to believe that efforts were in place to delay the signing of the Gavarian Exploration Agreement, but when they failed, Monhok was enlisted to further support the Order of 12 in new terrorist activities designed to impact Federation operations in the corridor,” he concluded with a frown before he let out a sigh. He was clearly holding back on something.

With a sigh, Tara ran a hand down her face; if th’Zorati truly was with the Consortium, then Garen had given him enough intel to move Consortium operations to harder to find locations. “That does not bode well for us,” Tara replied as she shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “Okay, first thing’s first, we need to limit communications. We also need to find out if any communiques have gone out since this information has come to light; even if th’Zorati is indeed innocent, someone else on board is leaking information and we need to find out who and when this information got out. And if you’re holding back anything else, please just get it out now so it won’t come to bite us in the ass later.”

“We discussed suspected Consortium sympathizers,” Garen revealed with a sigh as he sat forward in his chair, leaning his elbows on his knees. “Captain th’Zorati implicated you as a possible leak,” Garen shockingly revealed. Now he was truly torn. If the Captain was right, he had just alerted a suspected traitor to the fact that Starfleet knew about her. If the Commander was right, the Captain had intelligence that would make the apprehension of Consortium agents significantly harder.

“Damn, that’s brilliant,” Tara muttered with a shake of her head. “Given how torn my loyalties were during the pursuit of Hunter, it’s the perfect way to displace suspicion onto me.” The Trill woman sat silent for a long while, then looked to Garen. “I don’t know if there’s anything I can say that can assure you that I am not a sympathizer; I could release my psych evaluations to you, because I made no attempt to hide how torn I was over what I had to do, and resolution after the fact was hard earned. But the truth is we don’t have time for you to go through my file like that, so I’m just going to give you this,” she said, then pulled a small PADD out of her pocket. Tapping the surface to find an audio file and begin playback.

”I don’t know who to trust anymore…” came the Trill’s voice from the PADD, the beginning of her conversation with Hunter.

“Fair warning, he wants me to kill th’Zorati,” Tara warned Romaes over the sound of her conversation with Hunter. “I got him to say so explicitly, and I have no intention of doing so, unless of course, th’Zorati gives me absolutely no other alternatives.”

“Respectfully ma’am, given the potential implication of you both, I suggest we bring Captain Drayton in on this, not to mention Admiral Hanson. You need to make them aware of your concerns,” the Bajoran frowned after listening to the conversation with Hunter.

Tara nodded. “Before we bring them in, I need to know where you stand; will you stand with me as Commanding Officer of the Nogura, or will you defer to Drayton?”

“I will defer to the judgement of Admiral Hanson and whoever he gives command of the Nogura to,” he told bluntly, yet in his eyes, very fairly.

“You do realize he’s on vacation and is only an advisor in all this, right?” Tara said with a bit of Arjin’s dry humor, then she tapped her commbadge. “Admiral Hanson and Captain Drayton, report to the Ready Room,” she said, then tapped the badge off. “Honestly, if they are able to trust me once this all comes out, I don’t mind Drayton taking command so long as I am free to find th’Zorati.”

“He may be an advisor on vacation but he is still a member of the Admiralty and by far the most senior officer aboard,” the Commander countered just before the doors parted and the two summoned officers entered the ready room. Neither looked happy at being summoned by a mere Commander, even if she was acting as Captain for the time being.

“You rang, Commander,” Drayton spoke as he folded his arms across his chest in front of the desk.

“Well, I suppose I should be quick about this,” Tara said as she fidgeted with the PADD sitting on the desk. “I had my suspicions, so I went to Hunter for confirmation; I know it was against orders, but let’s overlook that for the moment,” she said, then began playback of the conversation, leaning back in her chair to watch Hanson and Drayton’s expressions as they listened.

Hanson slumped into the seat next to Commander Garen, listening intently to the conversation before arguing the same case Garen had made. “Hunter is a liar, a convicted traitor and a murderer. What makes you so confident he is right? He may well be lying?”

“He has not yet stood trial, so there is no conviction yet,” Tara reminded him sternly, then cleared her throat. “Apologies, I know how close to home this hits for you, sir, I know it can’t be easy to hear me defend him like that, but he was my friend. I’m also well aware that he is a liar, but despite having been his mentor, you don’t know him like I do, and what I saw at the end was more than enough to convince me; the forcefield went down on his cell, but he didn’t try to escape, he finally let me see how defeated he was and I truly believe he wants me to do this, not simply for the survival of the crew, but for my own peace of mind. I won’t pretend that I truly understand him as he is right now, but I know there is more to him than a simple ‘traitor’.”

“You are too close to this Commander. You have no proof whatsoever that any of this is true. Nothing but the ramblings of an incarcerated murderer. A man’s resignation is not enough to condemn him as a traitor,” Hanson shook his head as he rose from his chair and headed for the door.

“Admiral,” Drayton called out from his position stood behind the Bajoran, causing the senior officer to stop short of the door. “With respect sir, I think that the only way we can ascertain who is right here is to question th’Zorati.” Drayton noted the look of pure astonishment on Hanson’s face and elaborated on his viewpoint. “Whilst I do not share the Commander’s trust of the traitor, I do believe that to not acknowledge his statements would be a dereliction of duty. He has, after all, been truthful regarding Monhok and his intelligence has held up,” Drayton countered.

“Maybe I am too close to the situation to be objective, but I had my suspicions before I sought out Hunter’s advice. If I’m wrong, I will do whatever is necessary to make this right, but I can feel it in my gut, sir, something is not right here, and I’ve felt it since he took Command. As for talking to him, I fear that will prove to be more difficult than one might think; I went by his quarters before returning to the Bridge and he wasn’t there. He resigned, he has no reason to be anywhere but his quarters, and there’s no way to track him with his commbadge sitting in the observation lounge,” Tara said in her defense. “It’s why I needed you to find the Ulysses’ pilot, Tempestava th’Zorati; I remember her from when I served on the Ulysses as Arjin Neprem, and I saw her when we transported the Bridge Officers over, she’s his daughter and she might have some notion of what’s going on in his head right about now.” Also, she suspected Thalek had no idea that his daughter had been on the Ulysses otherwise he wouldn’t have allowed anything to happen that could have potentially harmed her.

A beep came from the door, filling the private office with increased tension and drawing everyone’s attention to the visiting Captain. He had brought the young th’Zorati aboard and now he hoped that they could resolve the issue quickly.

“Come in,” he called out and just seconds later, a fifth person entered the room.

The Andorian woman in command red and with two gold pips on her collar stood before the four senior officers, looking rather confused. As one of the Ulysses’ relief officers, she hadn’t been given an assignment since coming aboard and had confined herself to her guest quarters along with some of her surviving friends. It had been a surprise to be summoned to the ready room. “Lieutenant th’Zorati reporting as ordered,” she spoke as she went to attention.

“At ease, Tempa,” Drayton smiled before gesturing towards Commander Neprem. “Commander Neprem has some questions she was hoping you could answer.”

“Yes sir,” the youngest occupant of the room nodded, turning her attention to the Trill in the chair behind the desk.

Tara rose from her chair and came around the desk to get closer to the Tempestava, then she leaned against the corner of the desk with her hands folded in front of her as though sitting. “Lieutenant, when was the last time you had any contact with your father?” Tara asked carefully.

Tempestava frowned at the mention of her father. She had spent most of her career to date trying to escape his name, make a legacy of her own and prove she was not riding on anyone else’s coat tails, yet here she was, being asked about him yet again. “We don’t talk. It’s been sometime since we last had a conversation. He didn’t agree with some of my career choices and I didn’t care,” she told bluntly, her attention solely on the Trill at this point.

“Some time? Did you speak regularly before then? Was it usual for him to reach out to you, or were you the one to make contact? And your last conversation, did you notice anything out of the ordinary?” Tara pressed on, but her tone was cautious and gentle.

“He is my father, of course we spoke regularly. What is this? Why the inquisition?” Tempa asked, rather confused by the focus on her father. “He’s aboard, can’t you get answers from him?”

“Please, Tempa, this is important, was he the one to halt contact, or were you?” Tara asked, unintentionally using the more familiar ‘Tempa’ from her time as Arjin Neprem.

“Tempestava,” the young Andorian countered, now on the defensive in the face of the barrage of questions. She may have known Neprem as another entity, but she didn’t know this woman yet, and she hadn't earned the r right to address her in such a way. “Not that it is anyone’s business what happened between me and my father but it was me. I stopped contacting him. I wanted to break out on my own and forge my own career path, so I’d greatly appreciate it if we could talk about something other than the great Thalek th’Zorati, if you don’t mind?” she let out a ‘hmph’ of dissatisfaction as she folded her arms across her chest in a subconscious effort to raise her defensive barriers.

“Apologies, Lieutenant, I did not mean for such a familiar name to slip out; I used to know you in another life,” Tara replied, then sighed. “As for the questions about your father, he has resigned and without his communicator we are unable to locate him on the ship. I understand that what I asked was uncomfortable for you, but I needed to get a sense of his state of mind,” she explained carefully.

“Just scan the ship for Andorian life signs. There can’t be that many aboard,” she frowned, still defensive. “Especially those with Moretz syndrome.” The quizzical look on some of their faces caused the youngster to elaborate. “Moretz syndromes affects one in every 5000 Andorian males. It causes premature aging,” she told.

Between the two crews huddled aboard the Nogura, there were more Andorians than one would think, but hearing that Thalek had Moretz syndrome could just be the piece they needed. “Thank you, Lieutenant, that is most helpful. Unless anyone else has any questions for you, then you’re excused, but remain on the Bridge, you may be needed later,” Tara said, then returned to her seat to activate the desk console to begin searching for male Andorian life signs with Moretz syndrome. She had hoped that Tempestava would reveal that Thalek had been the one to stop communicating as it would point to a shift in behavior, but the Trill had to work with what she was given.

With permission to depart, Tempestava left as instructed and would remain on the bridge until ordered otherwise.

“So, what now?” Drayton queried as he looked back at the Trill who was now in command.

“Get to the bottom of the system malfunctions and find Thalek,” Hanson advised from his seated position next to Drayton.

“Divide and conquer; I’ll work on Thalek while another runs down to Engineering to get a status update,” Tara suggested as she worked, then her brow furrowed as she gazed at the screen. “I think we have a problem,” she said, then turned the desk terminal so the other officers could see. On the screen was a wireframe layout of the Nogura with several dots indicating male Andorians with Moretz syndrome. All but one had been paired off with a commbadge, indicating that they had been positively identified, while the last dot unidentified was located near the Main Deflector. “For what reason would a resigned Captain have for being in the Deflector maintenance bay?”

“Apprehend him Commander. Stop him, whatever the cost,” Hanson ordered as he rose to his feet quickly. “Captain Drayton, you will go to engineering and assist.”

“Admiral Hanson, would it be too much of an imposition to ask you to look after the Bridge? I’d like to have Commander Garen with me,” Tara stated.

“As you wish Commander,” the Admiral nodded. It would be the first time in a great many years that he would be in command of a bridge, even temporarily, but he would be happy to do it if it meant that they could catch the suspected renegade and hopefully get to the bottom of things.

Commander Garen had been watching and listening to everything in utter silence. At the start of the gathering, he had been highly torn but as the conversation had gone on, the Bajoran felt obligated to apprehend the Captain and either prove his innocence or put him behind bars. One way or another, Romaes would see to it that Neprem succeeded in her own mission.

“I’ll have Commander Millarini join me in engineering. She was integral to our recovery from the slipstream debacle,” the guest Captain informed as he rose to his feet and quickly vacated the ready room.

Tara rose to her feet and nodded to Romaes; she understood well his apprehension in all this, and she appreciated his dedication to his duty. “Let’s make this quick, I don’t want to give him anymore opportunities to sabotage this ship,” Tara said as she synced her PADD with the readout from her console, then tucked the PADD into her jacket.

Unbeknownst to Commander Neprem, Thalek th’Zorati would not have been hard to find had she waited just five more minutes.

Hunter had remained in the Brig, happy to remain in his cell despite the forcefield being down. He had his reasons, that would have no doubt come to light in the future had he not been disturbed by another visitor to the Brig. The dimly lit prison facility soon lit up at the opening of the large bay doors, a silhouette against the light of the corridor clearly that of a male Andorian.

“About time you showed up,” Hunter smirked as he pushed himself up off of the floor, looking out towards the Andorian who stepped inside and let the bay doors shut.

Thalek walked towards the former Captain of the Venture and Nogura, but it was clear he wasn’t there to say hello. The phaser he had drawn and pointed towards the chest of the Terran saw to that. “I need to know everything you told Hanson and Azulas,” the blue skinned man asked quietly, much to the amusement of the captive.

Nathan let out a laugh as he shook his head, his hands firmly on his hips. “I told them everything I know. Everything that will put you, Monhok and the rest of your Consortium cells out of business,” he revealed defiantly in the face of certain death.

“If you think you’re going to earn some sort of redemption by betraying the group then you are sorely mistaken,” Thalek told bluntly as he lifted his phaser. “Monhok’s escaped; Hanson’s under suspicion and the Consortium have influence in the Alpha Quadrant. Regardless of what happens here, the Consortium will live on. It’s a shame you won’t be here to see it.”

Nathan Hunter, for all his sins, was prepared to face death like an old friend. In a move that reminded him of his first days on the bridge of the Venture as her commander, he felt himself tug on the bottom of his jacket and smarten up. He took a deep breath and stared down the barrel of the gun as Thalek pulled the trigger.

Death had claimed the traitor, but right at the end, he’d earned a measure of redemption and had, hopefully, been able to go out a hero.
]]>Sat, 08 Dec 2018 19:52:16 +0000Traitorous Endeavourshttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/256
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/256Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - BrigTimeline - MD120, 1555 Hours

The Nogura was speeding along towards Deep Space 10; they were traveling at a measly Warp 4 because of the strain they’d put on the warp core, but the Nogura would be no worse for wear once the system was properly cooled and the dilithium matrix was recrystallized. Since they would have a little extra time for travel, Tara decided now was as good a time as any to slip away from the Bridge to do some investigating. This whole situation with Monhok, the destruction of the Ulysses, and Thalek’s resignation left a bad taste in Tara’s mouth, and she didn’t know who to trust anymore, yet somehow she found herself just outside the Brig and dismissing the guards so she could talk to Nathan Hunter privately. This was a violation of a direct order, but he had answers, she just knew it!

Hunter had been alone for sometime and was going stir crazy in the confined space of the Nogura prison cell, not that he would admit that to anyone of course. He needed to keep up the facade that he was as cool, calm and collected as ever, despite the nagging urge to claw at the walls and rip his finger nails off in the process. So, when the bay doors opened, it was a great relief - a distraction at last! He quickly sat up on the edge of his shelf and looked to see who it was that would be pestering him this time.

Tara looked across the bay to find Nathan in his cell, and her expression grew more focused and determined as she strode to stand just outside the barrier that separated them.

“I don’t know who to trust anymore,” the Trill said with no small amount of desperation. “And I know I can’t trust you either, but some part of me is hoping that you can help me make sense of what’s going on,” she said, almost pleading with the former Starfleet Captain. “What do you know of Thalek th’Zorati?”

“Nothing…” he trailed off as he rose to his feet and walked towards the protective barrier, a sinister grin etched on his stubble-covered face. “Yet, everything…” he added cryptically.

“Please, Nathan, no more games,” Tara said with a shake of her head. “I tried to believe in you; I tried contacting Starfleet Intelligence to verify if you were acting under orders, but either you weren’t, or I didn’t have the necessary clearance because they wouldn’t tell me anything. All I have left is the bastard standing before me, but I am holding onto hope that the good and decent man with whom I once served is still in there somewhere. Now please, what can you tell me about th’Zorati?”

Nathan looked over the woman, looking a little like the lost little girl who had first been joined all that time ago, yet despite that, he still managed to spy a steely sense of determination in her. She knew what she wanted these days, and she knew she had to get it. “What lengths are you willing to go to in order to save your crew?” he eventually asked in a hushed tone. “You are about to go down a path that no one else can follow,” he added with a more sincere look than he had probably demonstrated in some time.

“So he is the leak.” Not a question, a statement of fact; Nathan’s response had given her the answer Tara was looking for, but there was that twist in her gut that cautioned her that his words could all be lies simply to send her back into the chaos as aimless as she had been before. What if he was simply playing her to try to escape? So how far would she go? “I will do whatever is necessary,” Tara finally said in answer to his question, more out of curiosity for where this was going than out of any trust in the man.

“I never said he was the leak,” Nathan shook his head slowly, walking away from the door so as to not implicate himself further. If she wanted to assume that from his words, he would let her. “The Dominion have a saying. “Victory is life.” That’s definitely the case here, Tara. Nogura was far safer when he wasn’t aboard. You might be forced to go to extreme measures to make her that safe once again,” the Terran added as he returned to ‘the shelf’ and perched on the edge, looking back at his visitor.

“If ‘extreme measures’ means letting you out, it’s not happening,” Tara said firmly, dropping the helpless facade. She was done playing his games, so either he was going to help or not, but she wasn’t going to let him pretend to be in control a second longer. “And if self-preservation isn’t enough to make you get to the point, then I guess we’re doomed, and I will quite happily leave you in here to die if you’re not willing to give me something, anything, that can help.”

Wow. The joining process really had wiped out the edginess of the Neprem host. Dalma, as she was formally known, would have easily clicked on to his choice of words. This ‘new’ woman was either very dense or genuinely suffered from such an innocence it was almost cute. “Kill him, Tara. Kill him or we are all going to die…” Hunter trailed off, a scowl of such disdain overtook his face. By being there, his fate was in the hands of this woman and ‘her’ crew.

“‘Kill him’ but you won’t tell me why,” Tara replied with a sigh as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You were never this cryptic or oblique before, but I guess that’s what happens when you betray everything you once believed in. I’m going to need more than just some vague warning before I commit to murder.”

Hunter pushed himself up off of the shelf again and sauntered towards the forcefield. He was not angry, nor surprised by her comments. He’d heard them all before and would no doubt hear them time and time again.

As if on cue, however, plans elsewhere were put into motion that would no doubt prove him to be correct. The lights in the bay flickered furiously for a few seconds, before the droning sound of generators and relays suffering began to fill the room until eventually, the forcefield began to fluctuate and collapsed. For the first time in a long while, there was nothing between Nathan Hunter and escape. Nothing but his former friend.

“So it begins…” he whispered as he smiled at her.

Tara gasped as she stared at him, but then something occurred to her: he wasn’t trying to escape. He could have jumped her, even killed her in an instant, or just pushed her down and bolted, but he hadn’t! The forcefield was down, but he was still here. Why?

“Okay…” Tara said uneasily, her eyes narrowing with a sidelong glance as she contemplated the man before her. “Okay,” she repeated with more resolve. He wasn’t the Nathan she had been friends with, she truly believed her former Captain no longer existed in this man, but despite all the games, he had been honest with her in his own way… “I’m going to the Bridge to deal with this. Security will be along eventually, so whatever you decide to do, try not to kill them,” she said in a dry tone, then in one last leap of faith she turned her back to him to leave the brig.

“Tara!” he called out in an effort to stop her. “You need to stop him. Not security, not Mitchell Hanson and not Colby Drayton. You,” he declared sternly, yet still stood inside the cell that had housed him until this point.

That got her attention and Tara spun around to look back at him. “How… how do you know Hanson and Drayton are aboard?” she asked. “This, whatever this is, has been in the works for some time, hasn’t it?”

Nathan smirked and shook his head. “I suppose you have never been in the brig like me. Security officers talk when they get bored,” but then he turned serious again. “I know Hanson. I’ve heard of Drayton. Neither will be able to resist the urge to take over, but this is your ship now, your crew. It’s your chance to erase the demons of the past.” He lowered his head and let out a sigh as he slumped to the floor and rested against the side wall of the cell. “You weren’t there to stop one former commander, but you can be this time…”

Tara’s voice was caught in her throat. Swallowing hard, she found the words she needed. “I am sorry that I failed you, Nathan, I hope you know that,” she said softly. She couldn’t understand this new Hunter, all the games but now she was seeing a side of him that she couldn’t comprehend, and as much as she wanted to take the time to understand this new Nathan, a shudder of the ship as it dropped out of warp reminded her that there was a crisis that she needed to deal with. “If I can’t stop whatever is happening, I just want you to know that it was still an honor to serve with you,” she said, offering a small smile, and with that she left, passing through the Brig doors to find a way to save the ship and her crew. It was a nightmare, and she had hoped that Nathan had given her some more direct information, but she had enough to act on it, and that meant finding Thalek th’Zorati.
]]>Thu, 06 Dec 2018 06:27:24 +0000Feeling Her Hearthttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/251
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/251Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Main Engineering - USS NoguraTimeline - MD120, 1545 Hours

Typically, at normal cruising speed, the engine room of the Nogura was a busy place. At all hours of the day engineers went about their work, tending to the Sovereign-class starship’s mighty engines. When the starship was at warp 9, there tended to be more people working on the warp core, balancing the immense energies that burned within it while working on other things. Meibei, the quirky Andorian chief engineer, could often be found tinkering with some part of the complex engine, merrily calling out directions to the people under her command as they strove to keep the warp drive running smoothly. It was a remarkably low stress environment, but the engineers were starting to get used to their strange new boss’ mannerisms.

At warp 9.9, however, maximum warp for the Nogura, Engineering turned into a blazing hot madhouse.

“Hey, hey!” rang out the distinctively unimposing voice of the chief engineer, who was stripped down to her tank top in the sweltering heat as she jogged from one side of Engineering to the other, watching the readouts from the displays as she ran. “Okay, the M/AM ratio is slippin’ again. So...uh...yeah, Bensi, you take a team through the Jeffries tubes and adjust the EPS flow. The computer’s playin’ its tricks again.”

The woman whom Meibei was talking to, a human ensign newly graduated from the Academy, winced. Unlike most of the engineers, she’d opted to keep her uniform on, resulting in the poor woman sweating buckets as she stood at her workstation. Bensi plainly didn’t want to climb into the similarly hot Jeffries tubes, but she gamely went about it, calling out names as she hurried out of Engineering.

Meibei, however, was still a whirl of happy blue energy. She called out some more orders that had several more engineers hurrying into the lift up to the upper deck, while Meibei herself and burly warrant officer went to the searing hot warp core itself, both ducking under the safety rail. Meibei lay down directly next to the warp core while her assistant held a special type of tricorder, the big Vulcan calling out measurements and advice while Meibei performed adjustments on the reactor itself. Despite the sheen of sweat that covered both engineers’ skin, they didn’t seem fazed in the least, driving themselves hard to keep the Nogura at the insane speed that her captain demanded.

Tara was hit by a wave of heat as she passed through the lift doors, her eyes growing wide with surprise that the heat had reached this far! Setting her surprise aside, she made her way to the belly of the beast; despite the heat, she was pleased with what she saw, what some would see as utter chaos Tara saw akin to a well-tune orchestra working together seamlessly to keep the Nogura operational. Another pass of her gaze over Main Engineering allowed the Trill to find the ‘maestro’.

“Lieutenant zh’Khessi, status report,” Tara said as she approached the spirited Andorian, paying no deed to the fact that her uniform was far from regulation standard; given the circumstances and her otherwise impeccable performance, Tara would happily overlook this necessary infraction.

“Huh?” Meibei said in confusion as she delicately turned a tiny rod with a pair of pliers. Upon looking up at Tara, she beamed up at the woman. “Oh hi, Commander! Warp core is runnin’ a bit hot, but I think we can keep goin’ for a bit longer.” The Andorian girl hopped to her feet, looking around Engineering at the various readouts. “Intermix is good, M/AM ratio should be back to normal soon, nacelles are doing alright...she’s sailin’ fine, I reckon. Warp field is as lumpy as a pregnant cow in a desert, but there ain’t much we can do about that when going so fast.”

Tara stared in bemusement at Meibei’s description of the warp field, but upon considering the wording, it did prove to be fairly accurate. “And the heat levels are within acceptable tolerance?” Tara asked. “My other concern is for after we drop out of warp; how long will we be without warp capacity while we wait for the core to cool down?”

“I mean, she’s hot, but she can handle it,” Meibei replied breathlessly, wiping her sweaty brow with her forearm. “The real problem is the dilithium crystals. They’re gettin’ stressed real hard, and I can’t try recrystallizing them until we’re at warp 5 or lower. We can probably get back to warp right after we drop out, but it’ll cost us.”

“I’ll keep that in mind when I return to the Bridge,” Tara replied with a nod, then she frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay? I know Andorians are adapted to the cold, all this heat can’t be good for you,” she remarked with concern.

Tara blushed ever so slightly. “The welfare of the crew is one of my responsibilities, yes,” she said, averting her gaze nervously. Why did this bright and bubbly woman make her react this way?! “Please be mindful of the heat, we can’t have our Chief Engineer passing out.”

“Yes sir,” Meibei said innocently, although there was a subtly playful way to how she put her hands behind her back, bouncing up on tip-toes as she grinned at Tara. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m tough as anyone, and this ain’t my first hot warp core.”

“Commander, if this is some kind of mating ritual, may I please be excused so that you can continue your flirtations?” the tall Vulcan spoke up, causing Tara’s blush to deepen.

“Oh, wait, Tara! I mean, Commander,” Meibei called out while she gave her Vulcan assistant a distinctly petulant look that he accepted as permission to leave. Once Tara turned around, Meibei continued merrily, “There’s something I...um...wanna show you. About the warp core. It’ll be quick, I promise.”

Tara nodded and followed the chipper Andorian. “I apologize for my reaction,” Tara said now that they no longer had any eavesdropping Vulcans about, though she was still uneasy about openly discussing personal matters, which she considered romantic interest to be very personal. “I am simply not the sort to indulge in open flirtations, and your assistant put me on the spot. Not that I was trying to flirt with you, and I don’t mean that you’re not worthy of such attention-” she started to ramble, clearly keen on digging herself into a rather deep pit of embarrassment.

“You don’t talk much like this, do ya?” Meibei teased, chuckling. “Naw, it’s alright. Roval was just a bit clunky. He’s like that. Before you go, I just wanted to show you something about the warp core. Something you can only feel at maximum warp.” And with that, she held out her hand, still smiling.

“I really don’t…” Tara admitted with another blush, but Meibei’s assurances that it was all okay did help put Tara at ease, or maybe it was simply her sweet manner, the little Andorian was just so… so something that Tara couldn’t quite define. “What do you wish to show me?” Tara asked, taking the Engineer’s hand.

“Over here,” Meibei said, blushing slightly herself as she led Tara to the warp core. Slowly the Andorian woman placed her other hand on the pulsing warp core, gesturing with her antennae for Tara to do the same. “It’s alright, it’s not that hot. All the heat is coming from the EPS conduits.”

Tara nodded and placed her other hand on the core as well. Immediately she sucked in a sharp breath as she felt the vibrations rippling through her, as well as the faint static current running through her and to Meibei and back again. She was familiar with similar sensations from the Cardassian Nor-class stations she had worked on, their generators could create pulses similar to this under the right conditions, but nothing quite like the gentle intensity thrumming through them both now.

“Wow…” Tara said in a breathless whisper.

“It’s really somethin’, huh?” Meibei said with a grin, watching Tara’s reaction. “That’s the heartbeat of the Nogura. Normally we can’t feel of it because of all the dampeners that Starfleet put in, but when we get to maximum warp, it starts to bleed through. I can tell ya, she’s got a healthy heart.”

“Yes, she does,” Tara replied with amazement. “Thank you for showing me this,” she added softly.

With Commander Neprem escorting the new guest to the observation lounge, Thalek had left the bridge in the capable hands of Commander Garen whilst he and the Admiral met with the former commander of the Ulysses. Hanson and th’Zorati were sat in the briefing room, waiting for the two to arrive.

Their wait was not long, as Neprem and Drayton entered the lounge following their talk in the turbolift, having passed through the Bridge just long enough to get a final update on the evacuation.

“Captain,” Tara said with a gesture of her hand towards the long table, allowing Drayton the opportunity to take his seat first, then she turned her attention to Thalek. “All personnel from the Ulysses have been evacuated and are gathered in the Cargo Bays until they can be placed in rooms. Sickbay has established overflow triage areas in the lower mess halls to accommodate the injured in need of treatment. So far, no fatalities have been reported,” Tara reported to her Commanding Officer as she joined the others at the table.

“Thank you for coming to our aid Captain,” Colby smiled and nodded at his Andorian counterpart in acknowledgement as he took a seat on the right hand side of the table, looking down towards Thalek.

“Glad we could get you all out safely,” Thalek smiled (unusual for a man with such an icy demeanour) before looking at his XO. “Excellent work Commander. But now, we must turn our attention elsewhere,” the Andorian advised with a glance at the three others around the table.

“If you mean to return to our pursuit of Monhok, I’m not certain that is the best course of action,” Tara replied, folding her hands neatly in her lap as she settled into her chair. “I know well the dangers of cutting him loose, but at this point I think we’ve lost this chase; he has his reinforcements bearing down on us and we have to consider the safety of the extra crew in our care. It might be best to regroup and try again later once we’ve had the chance to gather some intel on him,” she advised.

“I agree with the Commander,” Colby nodded as he clasped his hands together and laid them on the table top. “I’d like to think we could take him down but right now, we have other priorities,” the CO of the Ulysses told as he looked at the Andorian and then the Admiral who had so far remained silent.

“You can’t be serious!” Thalek fumed. “This is potentially our one chance to catch this traitor and you want to let him slip away?!” the Nogura’s Captain was almost incredulous at the idea.

“It may be our one chance, but it’s also the most risky,” Tara pointed out. “Captain, think about this: we were given this mission at the last minute and executed it with enough speed and precision that we should have caught him completely unawares, but somehow he knew far enough in advance to not only get away but also to sabotage the Argus Array so that we could not alert Deep Space 9 that he was attempting to escape through the wormhole, and then when we finally catch up to him, he somehow sabotages the Ulysses and causes a core breach. It’s almost like he was being fed information as the situation developed, and if that truly is the case, then attempting to apprehend him before the leak is dealt with will be an effort in futility.”

“I have to agree with Commander Neprem,” Mitchell finally spoke up with a glare towards the Andorian Captain. “He has been one step ahead all the time. He’s probably expecting us to hunt him down so it stands to reason that we should try to be unpredictable,” the Admiral suggested as he sat forward in his own chair. “We will return to DS-Ten where we will re-evaluate the situation,” he instructed with a nod of acknowledgement to the Commander.

“Admiral, I must vehemently protest. I wholeheartedly believe the best course of action here is to track him down and apprehend him,” Thalek declared sternly.

Frustrated and fuelled by his innate Andorian thirst to beat the odds, Thalek rose to his feet, slowly lifting a hand to his collar while he settled his steely gaze upon the Admiral. He started to unpin his rank insignia and placed them on the table top. “I will not be associated with people who will allow a terrorist mad man to go free…” th’Zorati placed the last of the pips on the table. “I’m done,” he declared before removing his commbadge and making his way out of the room via the port side door.

Tara stared at the pips on the table with shock and amazement; she certainly had not been expecting this! It was no surprise that he was not pleased with the order to return to Deep Space 10, her understanding of the man was that he was driven and relentless, but never in her wildest assumption of Thalek th’Zorati would she ever imagine that he would just walk away like this! It almost didn’t feel real.

“I will alter our course for Deep Space 10,” Tara finally said as she rose from her chair, her tone numb and her body language screaming defeat; had she failed another Commanding Officer?

“See to it Commander,” the Admiral nodded before looking across at Captain Drayton. “Welcome to the Nogura,” he smirked with a shake of the head.

Tara nodded to Drayton with a weak smile before striding out onto the Bridge to alter the Nogura’s course, but in the back of her mind there was the itch of an inkling that would not go away. Tara had never really been comfortable around Thalek, not that they’d had much time to warm up to each other, and something about his sudden resignation didn’t sit well with her. Once the ship was bound for DS10, Tara would do some investigating, because she wasn’t going to leave this alone!

Meanwhile, a seemingly angry Thalek made his way to his quarters, ignoring everyone in his wake until he entered the living space. There, his demeanour changed as he reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a small device. Activating it with a single press of a button, he placed it on the edge of his desk console which activated it to reveal a Benzite man. “You’re free to go,” he spoke quietly.

The Benzite nodded with a grin which caused the steely Andorian to smile. “Good work Thalek. The Order will be pleased to receive me safely. You’ve done a great service to the Consortium today. Now begins phase three…” he leaned in closer to the screen and let out an even more sinister smirk, “...Nogura must not make it to Deep Space Ten…”

Thalek nodded slowly. “I understand,” he added before closing the channel and sitting back in his chair, contemplating his next course of action. Whatever it would be, it was certain that no one on the Sovereign-class starship was safe any longer.]]>Thu, 06 Dec 2018 06:25:54 +0000Gavarian Quandaryhttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/253
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/253Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Starbase 72Timeline - MD120, 1400 Hours

"And here's the latest update of movements behind the Cardassian border," Petty Officer Tanika, the Admiral's faithful yeoman said as she handed over the ninth padd she carried. "Intelligence sent this over an hour ago and they want your thoughts on Portas V as soon as possible."

Zachary barely heard what she'd said, still focusing on the fourth padd she'd given him, a troubling update on Deep Space 10 that had been forwarded to him by Task Force 93. He couldn't believe days like this actually made him miss the Gamma Quadrant.

In the corner, his wife Jillian O'Connell, along with their 5-month old son Scott, sat at the table, eating the lunch she'd brought from the promenade. Since the Alrakis Pact revealed itself, she hadn't seen much of her husband. As a Starfleet officer herself on maternity leave, she completely understood the pressure he was under, but it still didn't ease the pain of not being awake every night when Zachary returned home. Even now, the fresh Bajoran food she'd brought for him was getting cold as Tanika gave him the daily updates.

Whilst the Admiral reviewed his data PADDs for the umpteenth time, the door chime rang out and disrupted their gathering. A most unexpected interruption.

Zachary looked to Tanika who seemed just as confused as he was in this moment. "Not on the docket?" he simply asked.

The petty officer shook her head no, but used her Betazoid senses to peer beyond the doorway. "Whatever it is, it's urgent."

"What isn't anymore?" he scoffed. "Come in!" Zachary called out.

Marching in to the Admiral’s office once the doors parted, two officers quickly approached him at his desk. The first, a beautiful female Terran of Commander rank and she was accompanying a rather stout looking Tellarite wearing the rank of a Rear Admiral. “Admiral, we have a problem,” Vasoch Gor grunted once the two officers came to a halt. The woman, Commander Meghan Quinn (the former XO of the USS Ulysses and current Strategic Operations Officer for the Trivas Sector) remained silent.

Acting on instinct, Petty Officer Tanika crossed the room and began to help Jillian gather her things and assist with getting her and the baby into the next room so the brass could talk in private.

Zachary didn't answer immediately. Between giving his wife and yeoman time to disappear, and recognizing the Strategic Operations officer for the Trivas system, he used the time to prepare his first question. "Must be serious if you warped all the way out here and not called from the Trivas sector."

“We’ve been attending a conference on Trill,” the Tellarite revealed as he pulled out a chair opposite the Vice Admiral without even waiting to be offered one. “We’ve lost contact with the Ulysses inside the Gavarian Corridor,” the aging pig-like creature revealed before looking at Meghan to elaborate.

“May I?” Commander Quinn queried, gesturing to the wall mounted screen nearby so that she could show the Admirals some further information.

The thought of losing contact with another Starfleet asset was less than appealing to the Admiral. Ignoring the Tellarite seating himself, he gave a simple waving gesture to the Commander to use the screen closest to them as to not alter the map of the Inconnu Expanse he was still reviewing.

As requested, Meghan tapped away briefly at the screen until a schematic of the Gavarian Corridor appeared with a single flashing icon on it. “This is the ships last known location, approximately two light years from Belkan’s Drift. Her last communique indicated that she had completed her first slipstream test successfully and they were preparing to conduct a second one. We haven’t heard from her since and she has disappeared from Deep Space Ten’s sensors,” Quinn revealed.

Zachary was doubly intrigued. As a former engineer, he'd been following the development of the Slipstream drive quite closely. If only he'd been a few years younger, he might have been able to work on integrating it into a starship. Alas, he would have to live vicariously through others.

In following the developments, Zachary had personal issues with the drive being deployed on large vessels, such as the Galaxy class. The fact that the Ulysses hadn't been seen for a while only fueled those doubts he had. Remaining calm, Zachary simply stated, "You know, the initial tests of the slipstream drive put the testbeds far past their expected exit points. Are we sure that the ship isn't simply out of range?"

Meghan shook her head slowly as she folded her arms across her chest. "Her course for the second test was to bring her back to Deep Space Ten. If anything, she should be easier to find on sensors. Wherever she has gone, she shouldn't be there," Quinn concluded.

Zachary sighed, not exactly thrilled with the news. "I'm not going to make a full report, much less a mention, of the situation until we know for sure what has happened to the Ulysses," he stated. "Between the Gorn War across the quadrant line and the Alrakis Pact, Starfleet needs the slipstream project to have some measure of success in recent days. How long has the Ulysses been missing and can we send out a search party?"

“Two days,” It was Vasoch chiming in this time, but he looked even more concerned. “It gets worse,” he began. “We have reason to believe that the Order of Twelve may be rearing their ugly heads again,” the Tellarite revealed as he gestured to the Commander again.

Meghan once again tapped at the screen and it changed to reveal a different area of space on one side and the profile of a Benzite on the other. “Meet Monhok; he is an arms dealer that operates in the Gamma Quadrant and has long since been rumoured to have been working with the Consortium,” she spoke as she pointed to a list of suspected activities. “The USS Nogura was dispatched to apprehend Monhok on Yadera, only they never got him.”

“Someone at Gamma Command warned him well in advance that the Nogura was coming for him. He felt Yadera, via the wormhole and it seems he is now headed for the Corridor,” Vasoch interjected. “The Nogura has given chase but is some way behind.”

“Our intelligence Operatives believe Monhok is to rendezvous with contacts from the Order of Twelve. Nogura has orders to stop him whatever the cost,” Quinn concluded, terminating the screen she had been using and taking a seat next to the Tellarite.

The Admiral frowned at the mention of the Consortium. He might have been reminiscing about them earlier as part of an unpleasant memory, but the suggestion that they hadn't been eradicated (something he'd already suspected), and that they were moving into the Alpha Quadrant quite unsettled his stomach. "So, you're suggesting that the Order of Twelve has means to infiltrate Starfleet, sabotage critical system upgrades on our largest ships, and pull in resources from the Gamma Quadrant?" Waving his hand, Zachary added, "It's rhetorical. Even I believe it."

"Nogura has entered the corridor after Monhok," the Tellarite informed, "hopefully they'll be able to track down the Ulysses too," Gor concluded.

"That's an awful lot to ask of one ship," Zachary remarked. "Is Captain Azulas still in command of the Nogura?"

"No," Gor shook his head. "Commodore Azulas is now in command of Deep Space 11. She's been replaced on Nogura by an Andorian called Thalek th'Zorati but he's being assisted by a woman who knows the Gavarian region well," the Tellarite revealed. He hoped that Commander Neprem would be a great asset in the Nogura's search of the corridor.

A frown once again graced Zachary's face. He'd known Azulas from their time in the Gamma Quadrant. He'd even taken part in assigning her orders to lead a task group through the Consortium controlled wormhole. He was pleased that she'd been promoted, and as much as he knew his confidence would be boosted knowing she was in command of the Nogura, Zachary knew he'd have to rely on new Captains to see this through.

"Very well," the Admiral declared. "As much as I hate to admit it, finding the Ulysses isn't as important as finding Monhok. That needs to stay the Nogura's top priority. If they find the Ulysses on the way, great. Let's alert the rest of our ships in the corridor to keep a lookout for the Ulysses. If the Firebrand has dropped off its colonists by now, I'll have them start search and rescue."

"As you wish sir. We'll keep you appraised of the situation," Admiral Gor grunted as he rose to his feet.

Zachary nodded his head, rising from his desk as well. "See that you do, Admiral. Wish the Nogura good luck."

"I will," Gor nodded, before gesturing for the Commander to join him in exiting the Admiral's private office. There was much to be done on their behalf.]]>Sat, 01 Dec 2018 19:18:13 +0000Ulysses' Last Journeyhttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/250
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/250Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Nogura BridgeTimeline - MD120, 1330 Hours

The Nogura bridge was in silence as the ship hurtled along at her maximum possible warp, headed in the direction of the Mouir nebula. On the viewscreen at the front of the bridge, the route of the vessel they were following was displayed. She would soon arrive at Mouir. When she did, she would drop from warp, which would allow the Nogura to catch up somewhat. On the other side of the map, approaching at warp seven, was the Ulysses. She had been closer to the nebula than Nogura and would arrive marginally ahead of the Sovereign-class ship.

Jamie looked up from the tactical counsel and wiped the fatigue from his eyes. He couldn't remember how many times during this chase he had checked and rechecked weapons systems, sensors, and shields. Nothing had changed in the last 60 seconds but he checked each of the weapons systems again. It had not bee very long since they had left the wormhole but he could already feel pain in his lower back from the chair. He briefly looked away from his station again to look around the bridge. Though dimly lit and ready for combat at a second's notice, he could still see the stress of anticipation on each crewmember's face.

The tension was broached as the lift doors opened, depositing the Nogura's Executive Officer back onto the Bridge. Tara was just returning from Main Engineering after getting a status update on the warp core.

"The warp core is stressed and it's going to require some attention and a chance to cool down when this is all said and done, but we're good to maintain our pace a little longer," Tara briefed the Captain as she sat in the command chair to Thalek's right.

"We're closing on the nebula, we'll have to drop out of warp in 75 seconds." Yole reported from Ops. She was monitoring the long range sensors to make sure they didn't warp into anything while simultaneously tracking their target on the lateral arrays. "Target vessel will enter the nebula 30 seconds ahead of us."

"Prepare to drop out of warp. Standby all weapons. If we get within range, I want to disable his engines," the Andorian instructed.

"Aye, Sir," Jamie replied with a brief glance. "Weapons are online. Standing by to target engines."

The inertial dampeners cushioned the ships internal structure as the mighty Sovereign class starship eventually dropped from warp and glided towards the Nebula.

“Message from the Ulysses. Captain Drayton reports that they have dropped from warp and are entering the Nebula to intercept the Consortium agent,” Commander Romaes revealed, looking towards the Captain in the Command area.

There was silence as the Nogura slipped inside the Nebula under thruster power only. The three vessels were all of equal standing now they were in the gaseous cloud. Or so it originally appeared...

Out of nowhere, a massive shockwave battered the Nogura, sending crew across the ship hurtling across rooms, into bulkheads and causing console explosions to erupt.

Pulling himself back into the command chair and holding tight as the rumble of the wave died down, the now dishevelled looking Andorian beckoned towards Anyone who was listening. “REPORT!”

Jamie regained his posture in his chair after nearly being launched out of it. His vision stopped shaking and his eyes widened at the information moving over his console. He had never seen so much information at one time. It was as if the console was suddenly a living entity and was speaking to him in colors, words, and beeping; all warning him of an emergency on the Ulysses.

"Sir! There has been a major explosion aboard the Ulysses," Jamie paused to look away from the Captain and back upon his console. Looking back at Thalek, he spoke solemnly, "Sir, twenty-seven percent of the Ulysses is gone..." Jamie looked towards Thalek, and even through the dim lighting, could see the horror on his face. Jamie's head turned suddenly towards the tactical console as it began beeping once again. "Sir," He began to report as he again made eye contact with Thalek, "Distress signal from the Ulysess, audio only."

Admiral Hanson, who had been sat beside the Captain, observing the events, pulled himself back into his chair and watched the Captain eagerly.

“Play it,” th’Zorati ordered with a nod.

Jamie didn't waste time responding. With a couple taps upon his console he opened the communications channel.

Soon enough, the speakers blared to life with static, explosions and voices. “=/\=Nogura this is Ulysses. We’re about three minutes from a core breach. Request emergency evacuation,” the voice of Captain Drayton called over the comm.

“=/\=Standing by to receive your people Captain. Transporters are limited so get as many out by shuttle and Runabout as possible. Nogura out,” Thalek instructed over the comm before quickly terminating it. “Okay people, we’re about to get very cramped! Commander Neprem, see to it that their people are given any help they need. Lieutenant Yole, get these people some quarters sorted. We’re going to have to bunk up in close quarters for a while. Snap to it!” the Andorian demanded loudly.

"Yes sir," Tara replied, then rose from her chair to head to the nearest lift, tapping her commbadge as she walked. "Bridge to Sickbay, prepare to receive injuries from the Ulysses," the Bridge crew could hear just before the door closed.

A short time later, evacuations were well underway when the already tense situation escalated further. "Lieutenant Franklin, see if you can keep track of Monhok’s vessel. Once we have evacuated the Ulysses I want to get after him. "

"Aye, Sir," Jamie responded as he he tapped upon the console, tagging the small vessel for tracking. Within a split second of completing the command, he was compelled subconsciously to pause. He very quickly realised what he was seeing and shouted out to Thalek, "Sir! Three medium-sized assault craft to our port and we do not have shields!"

"What?!" Thalek whispered as he spun on his heels and looked towards the inactive viewscreen. "Details? I need details!" the Captain demanded.

Jamie looked back upon his console, quickly tapping commands. Without looking up from the console, he relayed information to Thalek. "Three significantly outdated recon strike vessels of unknown origin converging on the Ulysses. They are powering up their phased polaron weapons."

"If they want the Ulysses, they can have her," Thalek remarked callously as he slipped back into his command chair and watched the appearance of the old vessels. The ships were nothing that he recognised, but still their presence was intriguing. The fact they had polaron based weapons was even more intriguing since the only known species to utilise those at present were the Dominion.

"Structural integrity on the Ulysses is failing," a second voice called out from near the aft master systems display.

“=/\=Bridge to transporter room two,” the Andorian called out over the open comm relay, “sensors show a decrease in the structural integrity field around their bridge. Get them out,” he directed sternly.

A few tense moments passed until the familiar voice of the XO filled the bridge. “=/\= Transporter room 2 to Bridge, we have them."

And it wasn't a minute too soon as the remains of the Ulysses went critical, a blinding flash of light filling the bridge of the Nogura as she erupted into a fireball.

Relaxing back into his command chair, the Andorian gave his next orders. "Helm," the Captain called out in defiance, "bring us about. Attack posture. Let those ships know that if they come for us, we mean business..."]]>Wed, 05 Dec 2018 22:53:38 +0000When things go sideways...http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/257
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/257Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - USS UlyssesTimeline - MD120, 1328 hrs

Lieutenant Navala Cowell had just finished up with her last appointment as she sat behind the small utilitarian desk that was situated at the side of her office space. The typical couch and chair that was an almost stereotypical fixture that usually came to mind when one thought of a counselor’s office wasn’t in the center of her office. Navala had never been a fan of the convention, probably in part because of her biological father’s influence later in her life. Instead, two comfortable looking armchairs rested facing one another, the pair looking to be out of some ancient castle study rather than the strictly functional style that usually dominated Starfleet furnishings. While many would attribute it to her father’s aesthetic tastes, it was in reality her own artistic urges that had led to the installation of the two chairs.

Navala leaned back in her desk chair, a decidedly utilitarian piece of issued gear, and rubbed the peak of her nose. Her session had gone particularly long, given the stressors that were afflicting the man who had just departed her office. While it wasn’t unusual for people in Starfleet to have issues, Navala couldn’t help but wonder to herself as she took a moment’s rest if humans were particularly prone to having completely irrational misgivings about the universe. While she wouldn’t speak of such things aloud to most people, there were times when she wanted to give in to the Cowell blood in her veins and simply clout people over the head and tell them they are just being stupid and send them on their way. Such a thing would seem rather out of place, except that she’d seen her father do it before… and was mildly shocked to see its effectiveness.

Navala smirked as her father’s voice passed through her head in recollection, reliving a particular instance where he’d berated a man for some fabricated fear he’d professed. While her father had been a doctor for half a millennium, his bedside manner felt about as polished as an intern’s. If anything, Navala half-wondered if she’d eventually become as surly as her sire one day. Her mother would likely lose all her accumulated Vulcan composure if such a day came whilst she was still alive, the shock of it being that horrible an event.

As Lt. Cowell pushed her body back forward to begin her report on her session anew, the room she occupied felt as if it suddenly and unceremoniously shifted sideways and downward, depositing the woman violently against the wall. Had it not been for her considerably sturdy frame, Navala might have been knocked unconscious by the impact. Recovering from her disorientation, the woman ran to the nearby LCARS terminal and called up a situation report that was generated by the ship’s computer. The information displayed made Lt. Cowell’s eyes visibly widen and prompted her to abandon everything she had been doing immediately.

The corridor was a bevy of activity, with crewmen and officers alike scurrying about trying to get a handle on the situation and take the appropriate actions. Navala took the opportunity to spread the word she’d seen through the Ops situation report.

“Everyone get to an emergency evacuation point; the ship has suffered a catastrophic breach!” the woman yelled as she began herding people toward the transporter room that wasn’t too far from her office.

Several crewmen that had ran passed her made an about face and took up the rear as Lt. Cowell herself began the semi-orderly dash to presumed safety. The door to the room was wide open, with a man and woman on either side of the door herding people in as fast and as orderly as was situationally possible. Navala began pulling people in front of her, the physician’s instincts she’d acquired over the years giving the lives of others priority over her own. It wasn’t until the security officers at the door grabbed her that she was finally inside the transporter. Once inside, she was briskly ushered onto the transporter pad and within the span of a breath found herself inside of a cargo space.

“Doctor Cowell!” a man who was familiar with the counselor called out to Navala as she was glancing around her new surroundings.

“Yes, Lieutenant?” the woman replied, making her way over to the man.

“There’s several people here that need medical attention. A couple of them where near the blast area and have some severe injuries,” the young engineer said as he guided the woman toward the injured.

“Has the Nogura set up triage facilities?” Lt. Cowell asked, looking a groaning man over as she knelt by his side.

“One of the local security officers mentioned that they are using small mess halls as triage centers, but the closest one to us is too far to carry some of these people,” the man replied with obvious concern riddling his voice.

“Fine,” Navala said as she turned her attention back to the engineer, “Go get me a medkit, and if you see any other medical personnel, grab them. Drag them here kicking and screaming if you have to.”

“On it!” the man shouted as he dashed away. A nearby officer wearing a red uniform, most likely a pilot of some sort, hurried over with a medkit in his hand. He set it down next to Navala and laid it open for her.

“You a doctor?” the Ensign inquired.

“Counselor, actually,” Navala said absentmindedly as she pulled the medical tricorder out of the kit, “But my father’s been a physician for about five hundred years and he taught me a thing or two.”

The young Ensign sputtered, “Five hundred?! Vulcans live that long?!”

“He’s not Vulcan, he’s El-Aurian. And they live a lot long than that,” Lt. Cowell grinned.

“Oh…” was all the Ensign managed before Navala shoved the tricorder in his hands. She extracted a hypospray and a vial, administering the solution to the injured engineer lying on the floor. She then pulled out a dermal regenerator and began closing the visible lacerations he had.

“Do me a favor, Ensign,” Navala said without looking away from her work, “Go scan the one just behind you and show me what the tricorder says. Until I get some real nurses in here, you’re going to play one for me.”

“Right, got it,” the man nodded, complying with her order. He took the scan of the person she’d pointed out and held the tricorder up near her so she could look at the display. An audible “hmm” issued from the woman before she began issuing instructions.

“See the hypospray?” Lt. Cowell said, “Remove the vial in it, then insert the one that’s in the top left of the kit, the one that doesn’t have a vial to its right.”

The Ensign nodded and began pulling and inserting the appropriate solutions. Once he was done, Navala instructed him to administer the solution to him after adjusting the hypospray to the proper dosage. Once it was complete, Navala continued this routine for several more patients before a nurse from the Nogura came running up.

“What’s the situation?” the woman asked Navala in an urgent but controlled voice.

“This one here has some internal bleeding, one of his ribs is threatening to puncture his lungs, and he has a severe concussion. Everyone else only has minor lacerations and a few broken bones that you can worry about later. I’ve got this one stabilized enough to move him, but you’re probably going to need a stretcher or something to keep him as immobilized as possible,” Lt. Cowell said in an equally calm manner.

“Thank you, Lieutenant…” the nurse started to say.

“It’s actually Doctor… Doctor Cowell. Despite that, I’m actually the Ulysses’ Counselor… or rather… was…” Navala corrected herself. Given the nature of the damage to the ship, she seriously doubted she’d be going back anytime soon. “Anyhow, tend to this one, I’ll keep an eye on the rest until you can fit them in or get me something to set the broken bones.”

“Of course, Doctor,” the woman nodded before calling over her comrades who were just arriving with stretchers under their arms.

“I guess this is what Papa was talking about when he told me the story about the Lakul incident…” Navala mused to herself quietly as she continued to observe the scenes of chaotic aid in the cargo bay.]]>Thu, 06 Dec 2018 21:38:50 +0000A beautiful day for a little zombie golfhttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/249
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/249Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Nogura HolodeckTimeline - MD120, 1255 Hours

“And so we just pour the napalm into the sewers?” Andy asked as she lifted the lid off the sewer access in the middle of the road.

“Yep, and then we sit back with a bucket of popcorn and enjoy the show!” JP said as he began to pour the contents of a bottle down into the sewers.

“But that’s not a big bottle, won’t that be too diluted by the water down there to ignite?” Andy remarked.

“It’s based on an old-time video game, try not to think about it too much,” JP said with a shrug. With the bottle empty, he lit a match and dropped it down the drain pipe and they both quickly backed away. Seconds later, drain covers were exploding up all down the foggy New England street and flaming zombies began running all throughout the street, causing JP to begin cackling maniacally. “Too much?” he asked his mother when he saw her look of surprise.

“Just right,” she assured him with a thumbs up. Then she hefted her sledgehammer up to go kill some flaming zombies.

In amongst the chaos, the doors to the holodeck had opened and Mitch had been stood listening to the two and it was incredibly different to the music he had enjoyed from the pair earlier. Standing in the background, the man looked nervous, worried about what he had to say to the pair of them. It would not go down well, but he had to be honest and tell them.

He let out a little cough to get their attention. “Think you can put the apocalypse on hold for a few minutes?”

Andy practically jumped at the sound of the cough, spinning around with her hammer ready to swing, and even JP snapped to a fighting stance, with purple and green energy dancing around his fists. Then they saw Mitch and relaxed.

“Sorry, this game kinda gets into you,” Andy said with a grin as she slung her hammer over her shoulder where it promptly disappeared. “What’s up?” she asked as she strode closer.

“We need to talk,” the Admiral frowned. “Computer. Terminate program,” the Admiral ordered and within seconds, the three Terran’s were again on the decking of the holodeck. With the program offline, the Admiral placed a hand on JP’s shoulder and gave it a slight squeeze. “JP. I want you to go back to our quarters and stay there until one of us returns,” the boy’s father instructed.

The boy’s expression fell. “I knew this was too good to be true…” he grumbled as he headed for the door to do as he was told.

“JP, remember what I said, it’s nobody’s fault,” Andy called after her son, but he didn’t stop or turn to acknowledge her.

Mitch shook his head slowly and lent against the wall behind him. “It’s about a million times worse,” he confided in her. She’d not been privy to all of the briefing from the Captain or the most recent developments, but the Admiral felt a need to tell her. “He had too much of a head start. We tried to reach him before he could enter the wormhole but we were too late. He was out and off with a good ten minutes on us even with pushing the Nogura to its limit through the wormhole,” he told. He hated failing at the best of times, but to have failed at a simple race aboard one of the fastest ships in the fleet was embarrassing to say the least. “The reality is that the only way he could have been warned so far in advance is…” he let out another sigh, “there is an undercover Consortium agent at Gamma Command.”

“Shit,” Andy muttered as she ran her hands through her hair in frustration; this was not good!

“It’s even worse when I think about who knew of this operation in advance,” Mitch told quietly. There was no reason to lower his voice, other than the fact that he felt it was a secret that needed to be kept that way. “Archer, Ryan, Azulas, th’Zorati…” he trailed off before adding rather sheepishly, “...and me.”

“Well I know it ain’t you,” Andy said bluntly. “Hell, cut you open and you’d bleed the UFP logo, so it ain’t you, and Ryan is about as much the same. Azulas, I don’t think it’s her either; just call it a gut feeling… Still, that don’t leave a lot of options, and what does that mean for us? Are you being formally recalled to duty to investigate this?”

Shaking his head, the Admiral pushed himself off of the wall and started pacing. “For now, the focus is on catching Monhok before he reaches his destination. We have intelligence that suggests he is planning to link up with a member of the Order of 12. And we all know what trouble they can cause with even the smallest of arms supplies…” He took a deep breath as he continued. “I can’t leave this to Thalek now. He needs all the resources available to him if he is to catch this Benzite bastard. Once we catch him, if we catch him, then there will be an investigation but until then, no holiday for us,” he told sadly. He had genuinely been looking forward to the time together and it had never been his intention to get embroiled in the Nogura’s mission. Now he was potentially a suspect, the last thing he could do would be to go on holiday.

“I understand,” Andy said with a nod. “JP’s gonna be a bit harder to convince; he’s not like us, he wasn’t raised on active ships, I only had him with me while I was teaching at the Academy, so he’s not used to these kinds of interruptions. Shit, and speaking of active ships, are we going to stay or should we try to catch a ride back to DS11, or what?” she asked.

“If you want to hitch a ride back to Eleven with JP, you can. But I am staying here until we’ve got this scumbag in custody,” the Admiral replied as he folded his arms across his chest defiantly and in a protective way. The whole situation had made him feel somewhat vulnerable, despite his age and rank. “We’ll be within transporter range of both DS9 and DS10 at different points in the next hour or so. Just let me know and we’ll get you aboard one of the stations,” he told.

“Or…. I could stay?” Andy offered. She recognized the vulnerability in him, having seen it in the past, and she just wanted to help. “I could take a sabbatical, or just reassign me here to the repair crews, anything to make me useful. Just because we’re missing our vacation doesn’t mean we have to be separated; things are just starting to get good between the three of us, I don’t want to lose that momentum.”

He smiled and placed a gentle hand on her upper right arm. “I’m sure the Captain would appreciate your help at Ops,” he retorted. “I’ll explain it all to JP when I have chance,” he assured her.

Andy nodded. “So much for leaving it all behind…” Then she released a forced laugh; she was still pissed, but taking it all in her stride. “Guess we’ll have to requisition a couple of communicators, and let me know when I’ve got to report for duty. Just not right now, I owe the boy an ice cream float, so I should run to the lounge to see if they have any real ice cream on hand.”

For the first time since they had been properly reunited, Mitch initiated intimate contact. He pulled the woman in for a hug and held her tight for a few seconds. “I’m sorry,” he whispered into her right ear before releasing the hug and smiling at her.

Andy was so shocked by the contact that she didn’t even get a chance to hug him back before he let go, but she smiled nonetheless. “Why Mitchell Hanson, I do believe you’re being nice to me,” she said in observation. Then she reached over to deliver a playful pinch to Mitch’ well-toned backside. “Oh right, I’m supposed to pinch myself to check if I’m dreaming.”

Mitch couldn’t help but grin at the woman’s actions before turning for the doorway, a brief glance back one of an almost longing nature. Deep down, he pined for a time when duty wouldn’t get in the way.

Andy’s gaze met his, and for a moment they shared that same feeling of longing. But duty called and he had to go, and soon she would have to go back to their quarters to try to do some damage control with JP. But first, she needed to blow off some steam…

“Computer, resume program,” Andy said, and just like that she was back in New England with zombies all around. “FORE!” she called out as she took a golf swing with her sledgehammer to a zombie on the ground, sending his head flying off into the distance. Yeah, it was one of those kinds of days...]]>Sat, 10 Nov 2018 21:02:28 +0000Transmission from Nogurahttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/247
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/247Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Ulysses BridgeTimeline - MD120, 1250 Hours

"...and you say the engines will be fully operational?"

Commander Cordelia Millarini stood before the commanding officer of the Ulysses with her hands clasped behind her back, watching him intently as he read her report. It had only been a few hours but the team in engineering had successfully restored main power and warp drive already. "Engines will be fully operational in the next twenty minutes. Until then, we have warp seven," the blonde woman informed. "Slipstream remains offline. Commander Pennington tells me that he and Lieutenant Bergen have a theory about the malfunction but need more time to look into it."

Sitting behind his chair, the Captain let out a slight smile as he nodded and listened to her words. It was impressive for sure and he was sure it was largely thanks to the woman across the desk from him. He was massively impressed with the leadership she had shown down in engineering in the short while she had been in charge. "Excellent work Commander. Let the team know they have my thanks," he instructed, passing the report back to the Commander.

"Yes sir, thank you. I am sure they will appreciate it," the Engineer nodded. "If there is nothing else sir, I'll head back down there," she asked.

Drayton rose to his feet and gestured for the doorway. "Nothing else for now Commander," he smiled before following her out of the ready room and onto the bridge. He watched briefly as the Commander disappeared into one of the aft turbo lifts and then he took over his command chair from Lieutenant Okan who returned to the forward Ops station.

Eza emerged on the bridge and headed for the Captain, nodding to the engineer as they passed. "Captain, we have a preliminary report on what may have happened during slipstream."

Getting comfortable in his command chair, Drayton looked at the Lieutenant and gave him a nod, the sign of permission being granted for him to commence with his report.

"We're not positive why, but for some reason we encountered a stream of exotic particles during the second test. Our astrophysics team is digging into the why. The particles interacted with the deflector field. The field collapsed and the subspace stress did a lot of damage to the hull. From what we've seen this is the first time this result was encountered with the Federation QSD, it could have been some sort of local phenomena, or, worst case, a systematic flaw in the system." Eza reported.

"Can we restore the Slipstream without heading back to port? I'd really like to avoid another lengthy layover if at all possible," Drayton frowned.

"We can try but I don't know if we'll be able to make the repairs to the deflector necessary for QSD." Eza replied.

“Do what you can Lieutenant,” the senior officer agreed with a nod.

A shrill beeping and whistling from the forward consoles indicated an unexpected issue that the ships Cardassian operations chief soon elaborated on. "Captain. We're receiving a transmission from the starship Nogura," Okan revealed, somewhat confused. "Sensors show she has entered the Corridor and is headed in our direction," she told, turning to look at the Captain with a raised eyebrow of curiosity.

"Nogura?" Colby mused quietly. As far as he was aware, the Sovereign-class starship was assigned to the Gamma Quadrant. After all, his former strategic operations officer had been assigned to her for that very reason. "Do we have holo-communications restored, Lieutenant?" he queried.

Akaria nodded as she turned back to Ops. "Yes sir, we do. Activating now," she pre-empted and soon, the bridge of the Ulysses had been 'invaded' by the form of an Andorian male.

"Captain Drayton," the Andorian nodded respectfully, "Thalek th'Zorati, commanding officer of the Nogura." A curt introduction, but it did what was required.

"A pleasure Captain," Colby smiled, nodding back at his counterpart. "I trust Starfleet haven't called you all the way from the Gamma Quadrant to look for us?" he smirked, inching forward to sit on the edge of his chair. "A minor difficulty with our slipstream, that's all..." he told. It wasn't an out and out lie, but it wasn't the whole truth either. Starfleet Captain's were notorious for not wanting to show weakness to their counterparts.

"No Captain," Thalek shook his head, "it is Nogura that needs your help," he revealed, much to his own visible annoyance.

This certainly piqued Colby's interest. "You need the help of the Ulysses? I'm all ears," he smiled curiously.

"We're in pursuit of a suspected Consortium agent," Thalek began, the hologram shifting his stance and shimmering occasionally as the less than stable system fluctuated. "We were supposed to apprehend him in the Gamma Quadrant but it seems he had advanced warning. Our intelligence indicates he has headed into the Corridor to meet with one of his contacts," the Andorian revealed before concluding his briefing. "His ship is small, manoeuvrable and fast. So far, he has been able to evade us. Our sensors show he is headed your way," the Andorian was soon interrupted by the Ulysses' commander.

"We're limited to warp seven right now, but we'll try to head him off," Colby nodded, always happy to help out a friend in need.

"We're transmitting information about his craft to you now,, including his ships warp signature," Thalek informed, looking briefly away from the Captain to give his order.

Sure enough, the data started to come through. "We have him Captain," Akaria nodded at the Ops station. "His vessel has just cleared the Turlex system. Sensors show he is headed for the Mouir nebula," the Cardassian informed.

"A level playing field," Drayton mused. "He'll try to lose us in the nebula, knowing that none of our sensors will work," he spoke quietly before looking towards the Andorian again. "Okay Captain. We'll meet you at the Mouir nebula," Colby confirmed before quickly adding, "if neither of us get him first."

"Appreciated Captain," the Andorian nodded. "See you at Mouir," then the Andorian Captain was gone.

"Helm," Drayton called out with no time to lose, "set a course for the Mouir nebula, warp seven," then, with a single declaration into the computer, everything changed. "Red alert!"

With the red alert order Eza moved to his station, the officer vacating it for him. He began pulling up information on the Mouir nebula in hopes of finding a way of tracking the ship in it.

With Nogura advancing from one side, and Ulysses the other, this Consortium agent would not escape their clutches. For personal pride, Colby couldn't help but hope that it was his people that caught him.]]>Sat, 10 Nov 2018 20:39:23 +0000Charge to the Wormholehttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/245
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/245Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Nogura BridgeTimeline - MD120, 1230 Hours

Entering the bridge with Admiral Hanson in tow, Captain th'Zorati headed across to his command chair where Commander Neprem was waiting for them. He'd filled the Admiral in on everything; the Benzite Consortium agent who had been their target, fleeing for the wormhole and his potential links to the Alpha Quadrant terrorist cell known as the Order of Twelve.

"Report Commander," the Andorian requested as he slipped into the command chair and gestured for the Admiral to make use of the vacant seat to his left.

"We're nearing the wormhole now, sir," Tara said as she slipped back into the chair to Thalek's right. "We've detected another ship on approach, it matches the general description that the agent has been known to use. I've set a pursuit course to try to intercept him before he can reach the wormhole, but he has quite the lead on us. I've continued our attempts to contact Deep Space 9, but communications with the array are still being jammed."

Thalek nodded in thanks to the Commander for her report. "Lieutenant Yole," the Captain called out towards the Operations Chief, "See what you can do to cut through the interference," the Captain ordered before tapping a button on the arm of his chair. "=/\=Bridge to Engineering," he spoke clearly.

"=/\=Engineering here," came the airy, ever-bright voice of the Nogura's resident chief engineer.

"=/\=I know we are at maximum warp Lieutenant but I need more," the Andorian requested over the comm. He knew it was a tall order, but they had to push the ship to the extreme if they had any hope of intercepting the Consortium Agent.

A brief pause followed. "=/\=Alright Captain," Lieutenant zh'Khessi replied, her cheerfulness dimmed into resolve. "=/\=We can get ya warp 9.97 'till we hit the wormhole, but we'll really have to slow down after that. Seems a bit rude to push the Nogura so hard on a first date, but she'll do it for ya."

There was something about the Andorian's response that made Tara smile, but she quickly schooled her expression into one of seriousness and focus. "We'll have to drop out of warp to pass through the wormhole, but we might be able to catch up to Monhok inside the wormhole if we're willing to risk full impulse; a ship of that size would have to go slower to avoid damage, but the Nogura can take more of a beating," Tara suggested.

“=/\=Can we use a tractor beam in the the wormhole, Lieutenant?” the Captain queried over the comm after nodding at the Conn Officer.

"=/\=Yeah, sure," the chief engineer replied promptly. "The tractor emitter will work fine in there. But...really, Cap, I don't know what'll happen if our tractor beam touches a verteron filament in there. The wormhole itself will probably be fine, but I don't know about us."

The tuborlift doors slid apart and Jamie stepped onto the bridge followed by Ensign Ja'Qull. Jamie responsed to Thalek and Tara's glances of curiosity with a smile. He and the Klingon Ensign quickly traversed that aft of the bridge, passing behind the Captain and XO's positions. As the pair neared the tactical station, Ja'Qull took a seat at the empty mission operations station, where he will monitor Jamie's progress. As Jamie neared the tactical station, Lieutenant Th'iqiarrroq stood up, reaching out his hand to shake Jamie's. Jamie shook Th'iqiarroq's hand and smiled before the Lieutenant departed. Jamie sat down at the station and took his first look at the panel in front of him.

Everything was where he remembered from his cadet cruise and holodeck training. He reviewed the shield, weapons, and sensor controls, noting that each were in the green. If and when shields and weapons were needed, he would be able bring shields online and ready phasers and torpedoes very quickly. He looked over his shoulder and nodded, notifying Ensign Ja'Qull that he was good to go for the time being.

“Approaching the wormhole now Captain,” Gates spoke from the Ops station. “Monhok’s vessel has already entered the aperture,” the Helmsman revealed as she glanced back at the Andorian briefly.

“Slow to impulse power,” Thalek ordered sternly, “take us in, best possible speed.” Was it worth risking weapons fire or a tractor beam in the wormhole? No, not in this case. It wasn’t worth the risk to his ship, his crew or the wormhole aliens that the Bajoran strategist so believed in.

The Andorian glanced briefly at the Admiral beside him and his silence spoke volumes. He so far clearly agreed with the Captain’s actions.

“Slowing to impulse... ten seconds until wormhole threshold...” the Conn officer spoke clearly and concisely as she tapped away at her console.

On the screen, the wormhole burst to life and the mighty Sovereign class starship was soon enveloped, travelling through the verteron particles and the particle streams. It wouldn’t be long until she burst out the other side and could give chase.

"All hands, brace for wormhole transit," Tara called out over the ship wide comms just before the ship was enveloped; transit through the wormhole was usually quite smooth, but they were attempting this at full impulse, which had the potential to be quite a rough ride. But the wormhole was such a beautiful sight, both the dramatic opening and the brilliant blue corridor they now traversed, and it took Tara's breath away, even after her own experiences and those of her past lives.

"We'll reach the exit aperture in three minutes..." Gates informed from the Conn.

"We're closing but they still have a lead." Yole reported from Ops, "They'll emerge on the alpha side ninety seconds ahead of us."

"Mister Franklin, be ready to engage the tractor beam on Monhok's ship as soon as we exit the wormhole," Tara ordered, watching the other ship on the main view screen, just a tiny dot ahead of them.

"Aye, Ma'am," Jamie replied without looking up from the counsel in front of him. "Tractor beam at the ready."

The next minute or so was excruciating as the crew watched helplessly as their target vessel exited the wormhole ahead of them and no doubt made the jump to warp.

"Dammit," Tara blurted out under her breath, then blushed when she realized what she'd said. "Ahem, I mean... Track their warp trail, let's see if we can discern their heading. Engineering, what's our limit on warp travel since we pushed the warp core so hard?"

The chirpy Andorian sounded out of breath over the comm as she replied. "=/\=Warp 9.9 for six hours, then I'll need to cool her off a bit and let the crystals stabilise. That wormhole screwed our nacelles somethin' fierce."

Thalek nodded at the helm officer and authorised the use of warp 9.9 in order to pursue the criminal. He just hoped they could catch him in time...]]>Wed, 07 Nov 2018 18:20:20 +0000Recreational Disappointmenthttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/246
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/246Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Hanson Guest QuartersTimeline - MD120, 1210 Hours

“Oi, remember where your elbow is,” Andy scolded gently, then gave a count to 4 to resume the lesson. They may have been bound for a vacation, but Andy still wanted JP to practice his cello; she had made a holo-device to create a travel-light cello he could take along whenever they moved around, and JP was seated in a chair with the cello now with his mother playing accompaniment on her violin. With the count, a mellow tune began to spill from the large body of the cello with the violin joining soon after. Andy smiled when she heard the clean clear notes resonating together, an improvement to the boy’s earlier slip ups.

On the nearby sofa and watching with great interest and a massive smile, Mitch Hanson couldn't help but beam with pride at his son. It was the first time that the Admiral had heard his son play the giant instrument and he was massively impressed, even with the improvement since the boy had started just a short while earlier.

Then of course, there was Andy. He knew she played but he had forgotten what wonderful tunes she could tease out of the instru… wait a minute. What was that? Had he… Yes! He’d caught himself looking at her in a way that he hadn’t for a while. Judging by the fact that she hadn’t changed her facial expression one iota, she clearly hadn’t seen him. But he had definitely caught himself looking at her in that way… the way that always spelt danger for them. Perhaps it was the thought of just being together, as a family, with no work and no commbadges. Maybe, just maybe, there was hope for them yet? As the smile returned to his face, he slowly swayed to the sound of the beautiful music.

After another pause as Andy gave some instruction to JP, the music began again, this time from the beginning so JP could play the piece straight through without any help. Andy hadn’t caught the gaze Mitch had given her, but JP had, and he grinned as he worked through the tune, doing his level best to hide his smugness as he focused on the music. He wouldn’t get to the end of the piece as the door chimed.

“I’ll get it,” Andy offered, since she was already on her feet. “Take a break, we’ll finish in a bit,” she said to JP as she strode over to the door and opened it.

Once the doors parted, the former drone was faced with the blue skinned Captain of the Nogura, a Captain who looked even less cheerful than usual (if that was even possible). “I’m sorry to bother you Master Chief, but I need to speak with the Admiral,” Thalek revealed in his stern, gravelly tone.

“Oh…” Andy said as her expression fell; she had a feeling she knew what this was about, but she said nothing, not until she heard the bad news. She stepped aside with a gesture of her hand to invite the Captain in, then went to the dining table to set her violin back in it’s case. “JP, we’ll pick this up tomorrow,” she said to her son, and JP knew this was code for ‘Go to your room so the adults can talk’, and so he shut off the holo-emitter and pocketed the small device, then went off to his bunk. “Do I need to leave too?” Andy asked as she closed up her violin case.

Thalek shook his head as he took a seat across from the Admiral and watched as the boy dutifully, yet begrudgingly, left the room. “There’s been a development with our mission,” the Captain revealed, sliding a PADD across the coffee table to the much senior Admiral. “It appears that the Consortium agent we were sent to apprehend has been warned that we are coming and has fled to the wormhole,” the Andorian revealed.

“Well that certainly complicates things,” the Admiral remarked as he looked briefly at Andy and then the PADD again. “So, he’s headed to the Alpha Quadrant?” the older man asked. “Why? There are no known Consortium cells operating on the other side of the wormhole.”

th’Zorati shifted, uncharacteristically nervous (he’d never admit it out loud, but Hanson had always intimidated him, so it was hard to explain this failure to him) as he explained his actions. “We spoke with our guest again and he was surprisingly forthcoming,” he began. “According to him, there were rumours, around the cells, that Monhok had been trying to branch out. Almost as if he were going in to business for himself. He had supposedly been approached by someone from the Alpha Quadrant that could use his… expertise, his knowledge of the Consortium,” the Andorian revealed.

“That’s just great…” Andy grumbled as she plopped down into a chair at the table. “Guess this explains the course correction I felt a little while ago,” she added dryly.

Thalek nodded as he confirmed her statement. “We were trying to intercept him before he made it to the wormhole but we won’t make it in time,” the Andorian frowned. “Communications are jammed too, so we can’t get a transmission to Deep Space Nine via the relay either,” he told.

“Sounds to me like they’ve known about this for a while,” Hanson mused quietly as he read the report from Starfleet Intelligence that Garen had presented to the Captain earlier. “So, what else do we know?” he asked eventually, referring back to the meeting the Captain had undertaken with their ‘guest’. Hanson had been more than skeptical of Hunter’s intelligence so far, but most of it had transpired to be… Crap. He suddenly realised that he hadn’t told Andy (or J.P. for that matter) that Hunter was aboard. She’d flip out for sure.

“I know we’re not making it to Altor anytime soon…” Andy said before Thalek could brief Mitch on any further detail. “Dammit!” she exclaimed, then sighed. “Sorry, not mad, I’m not mad,” she said, trying to convince herself more than convince them, with such attempts only resulting in one of the dining chairs being kicked away from the table. “Ok, I’m mad, but not at anyone in this room.”

“You will be…” Mitch told sheepishly as he changed his stance and turned to look at her, taking one of her hands in his and holding it tight (mainly so she only had one to punch him with if she felt so inclined). “I didn’t tell you because, well, we weren’t going to be aboard for long, but Hunter is aboard. He’s been the source of our intelligence,” the Admiral confided before closing his eyes and wincing as he prepared to be socked in the jaw.

Instead of letting her anger boil over, Andy held it in, silently fuming as Mitch held her hand. “We can discuss this later,” she finally said, her normally gruff and gravelly voice now soft and muted. Then she pulled her hand away from his, grabbed her violin and stormed off to her bunk.

“Crap on a cracker,” the Admiral sighed as he lowered his head and shook it. Why did he always manage to piss her off just when things were going so well? Looking up again, he diverted his attention back to the Captain. “Give me five and I’ll get changed,” he revealed before pushing himself up and heading towards the same room that Andy had disappeared into.

When the door shut behind him, the man looked at the former drone. “You’re mad. I can understand that. I apologise,” he told in a very stilted, almost staccato fashion as he eyed the woman and the wardrobe with his spare uniform in it.

“Don’t,” Andy said as she tucked her violin away under the bed, then made her way to the wardrobe, pulling out her uniform, then his and tossing them on the bed. “I’m not mad at you, really,” she assured him as her odd-eyed gaze finally met his. “I know you had nothing to do with how things unfolded, and I don’t fault you for not wanting to spoil the mood by telling me about Hunter, so you don’t need to apologize. But I am still pissed because I know what this means. Just give me some time, I’ll get over it.”

He reached across and took ownership of her uniform, dragging it away from her. “Just because I’m back on duty doesn’t mean you are. You stay here, relax with J.P. and I’ll be back the minute I’m no longer needed,” the Admiral smiled, trying to atone for the change of their plans.

“Yeah, but how long until you’re ‘not needed’, or until we can get back to our vacation plans? I will go stir-crazy without something to do,” Andy pointed out.

“As soon as the situation has been resolved, we’ll head straight for Altor. I’ll even get us passage on another ship that won’t be anywhere near a Starfleet mission,” Hanson told as he began to slip into his Admiral’s uniform. It didn’t phase him in the slightest, getting changed in front of her, despite their complicated relationship status. “You never know, this bunch might be so competent they don’t need me for anything other than a briefing,” he smirked.

With a grin, Andy shamelessly enjoyed the view as she watched him change. “I hope so, because I was promised tropical drinks and deep tissue massages on the beach and I intend to collect, even if that means finding a nice piece of eye-candy to drag to the holodeck.” Even at his age, Mitch was still a nice piece of eye-candy…

“I’ll ask the Captain for you,” Mitch grinned as he zipped up the front of his uniform jacket and fastned the belt around his waist. Good to go, he winked at her and left the bunkroom.

“Not my style, but in a pinch he’ll do,” Andy said with a chuckle.

“Whatever,” Mitch called back as the doors opened and he stepped out into the main living space again. “Okay Captain,” his tone had instantly changed to reflect the donning of his uniform and the transition from off-duty big wig to on-duty Vice Admiral of Starfleet Tactical. “You can fill me in on the rest on the way to the bridge,” Hanson instructed, gesturing with his left hand to the doorway. th’Zorati nodded and quickly vacated the premises, followed swiftly by the aging Admiral.

With Mitch and Thalek now gone, Andy took a moment to recompose herself before putting her uniform away. As she made her way to the living area to pick up the chair she had kicked, she contemplated what she was going to say to JP. Right now, there wasn’t much to tell, they wouldn’t know how long Mitch would be on duty or how long their vacation would be delayed until the situation evolved. But still, she had to tell JP something!

Andy entered JP’s room to find him lying on his bunk playing a hand-held game. Around his wrists were a pair of wristbands, a suggestion from the counselor to make him more aware of when he was scratching his wrists, and peeking from under those wristbands were signs of fresh irritation.

“You’re scratching again?” Andy observed with concern as she sat down on the edge of the bunk.

“I stopped before I scratched too bad,” JP said with a shrug. The bands around his wrists did make him self conscious, but it was working! “Something happened, didn’t it?” he asked in return.

“Yeah…” Andy admitted reluctantly. “Your dad had to get involved, but hopefully he won’t be on duty for long, and as soon as we hit Deep Space 9 we can find another transport to take us to Altor. Our plans ain’t changed, just delayed a little,” she tried to assure her son.

“If you say so…” JP replied with a heavy sigh, his attention thus far remaining on his game.

“Look, I know it sucks,” Andy said in an attempt to relate to what he was going through. “My parents were both Officers, so I know what it’s like to have them choose work over me. Now, I think I’ve done a pretty decent job of balancing my time between work and spending time with you, but your dad is still new to this, not to mention the situation was pretty serious, he had to get involved. It’s nobody’s fault.”

“It’s okay to be disappointed, I am too, just try to give your dad some slack when he comes back; he’s doing the best he can and I know he’ll make it up to us once he can,” Andy tried to assure him. “And until then, there’s no reason we can’t have some fun. Why don’t we go down to the holodeck and you can show me that game you’ve been wanting me to play, the one with the zombies and the magic bees?” she suggested.

“Really?” That had JP’s attention, although he pretended to contemplate the offer seriously. “I guess I could be convinced to show you,” he said with false disinterest, causing Andy to chuckle.

“Would an ice cream float afterwards help seal the deal?” Andy asked. Again, JP made a show of considering the offer before finally nodding.

“I accept these terms,” JP said with a grin, then hopped up to go find the program amongst all the other games he had collected. Andy smiled at his resilience, she just hoped that there wouldn’t be too many delays to their plans to test that resilience further.
]]>Thu, 25 Oct 2018 22:52:24 +0000Adversaries Unitehttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/244
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/244Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Nogura BrigTimeline - MD120, 1150 Hours

Turbolift doors opened on deck 5 and out stepped a rather cross Trill, followed closely by the Bajoran Strategic Operations Officer. Tara wasn’t overly fond of the news she had just received, not that Garen told her much at all, which made her all the more terse when she considered where she stood with the Captain. Personal feeling aside, there was a situation brewing that demanded resolution, and so she reported to the Brig, as ordered.

Inside, the Andorian was already present and locked in an intense face off with the Terran behind the forcefield. There was clearly no love lost between the two, with the Captain despising the very ground Hunter walked on, but that wasn’t the issue today. No, today was something so significant there were potential ramifications across the quadrants.

Upon the sound of the door opening, the captive’s gaze diverted from the Andorian and towards the visitor. “Tara! You just can’t keep away,” Hunter smirked.

“Shut up,” Tara ordered sharply, then gave her full attention to the Andorian Captain. “This cannot be good if you’re ordering me here against Commodore Azulas’ wishes.”

The former Captain stood in genuine shock at both the Captain’s silent stance and the bluntness of Tara. She was able to surprise him after all.

“Read this,” Thalek ordered as he passed over the data PADD to the Trill and then decided it was time to fill in their ‘guest. He took a step forwards so as to draw Hunter’s attention back to him. “So, turns out your intelligence was useful,” Thalek revealed, much to Hunter’s surprise.

“Of course it did,” the traitor remarked confidently. He knew it would, but to hear the Captain declare it was unexpected.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me,” Tara said as she read the PADD. Then she turned her gaze to Hunter. “Did you do this? Did you somehow warn Monhok that we were on to him?”

Hunter looked genuinely confused at the words that left his former executive officers mouth. “What? No! What are you talking about? I’ve been in custody the entire time!” he protested.

“Your former associate has apparently been warned of our mission to apprehend him and has fled for the wormhole,” Commander Garen chimed in as he moved to stand beside his Captain, nervously rubbing his nose ridges briefly.

Hunter shook his head vigorously. “Nah ah, not me!” he protested again. “If he got wind of your mission, it came from someone else. Not me,” the Terran countered, an anxious look replacing the one of shock. What if they didn’t believe him?

“Nathan, I have no mind to play games with you today,” Tara said sternly. “If you truly did not alert him, then who could have? And where would Monhok go once on the other side of the wormhole?”

Hunter shook his head slowly and walked back to his bunk at the back of the cell. Perching on the edge, hands on both knees, he spoke quietly, almost to himself. “This can’t be happening… It wasn’t supposed to happen…”

“What wasn’t supposed to happen?” Thalek queried, taking a step towards the cell now that his attention had been piqued.

Hunter looked up at the Andorian and, with a great sense of foreboding, let out a heavy sigh. “There were rumours, around the cells, that Monhok had been trying to branch out. Almost as if he were going in to business for himself. He had supposedly been approached by someone from the Alpha Quadrant that could use his… expertise, his knowledge of the Consortium,” Hunter told quietly, and for the first time in what felt like an age, it felt good to get the truth off his chest - whether they believed him or not. “He was told, in no uncertain terms, by the leaders of each cell that he was not to proceed with anything without getting the collective approval of all the cells. We were so effective because things were coordinated, targeted. We knew that as soon as individuals started branching out for themselves, our agenda would go out of the window. We’re not barbarians! We have a cause that we fight for, whether you agree with it or not.”

“Monhok used to be an arms dealer. Surely you knew he was in it for himself,” Garen remarked. He knew all about Monhok from his own research, but even he had no explanation for what was transpiring.

“If this is the case, I think you have no one to blame but yourself; after all, you were the first one to disregard agenda by pursuing a personal cause when you kidnapped Admiral Hanson’s son, so Monhok is just following your shining example” Tara pointed out as she crossed her arms over her chest. “If there’s anything you know about Monhok’s contacts or what he planned to do in the Alpha Quadrant, then we need to know it, now.”

Nathan shook his head slowly. His usual chipper arrogance had seemingly evaporated at the prospect of what was transpiring. If it was true, it would be a disaster. “You really don’t want to know…” he spoke quietly, looking Tara in the eye.

“Dammit, Nathan,” Tara said, stalking closer to the forcefield that separated them. “Even while we were chasing you, I never gave up on the friendship we shared, even if it meant my loyalties were questioned, but looking at you now, you’re only a fragment of the man I once respected. If that friendship ever meant anything to you, then you will tell me what we need to know, otherwise there’s nothing I can do to help you, much less stop Monhok from doing whatever is filling you with dread now.”

Nathan pushed himself up and off the bed again and slowly made his way to the forcefield to look her in the eye. “You won’t like the truth Commander, but if it is the truth you want then it is the truth you shall get,” Hunter responded in a stern tone. “If what I am told is true, Monhok’s contact works for a group you and I know very well,” the former Captain revealed slowly, dragging out the information until the very last second. “He works…” Deep breath. “...for the Order of Twelve.”

Tara closed her eyes with a slow exhale of breath. “Thank you,” Tara said in a subdued tone, but there was no relief in her words. Damn it all, why did it have to be the Order of Twelve?! “Did he ever reveal any specific contacts or locations where he might go? Anything you can offer could help us intercept him before he can do any harm.” Her voice was calm now, if somewhat strained at the prospect of dealing with the Order of Twelve again.

Shaking his head, the former Captain returned to his seat at the back of his cell. “Nothing. But I’d bet you my freedom that he’ll be headed for the Corridor,” Hunter spoke, louder and clearer than before. They both knew the Corridor well from their time together. “It is a relatively lawless place where no one has jurisdiction. If they want to carry out some sort of deal, they’ll do it there,” he concluded.

Thalek looked at Garen and with a nod of his head towards the door, the Commander set off to relay a new set of orders to the bridge. “Thank you for your cooperation Nathan,” Thalek spoke with a brief look back at the man in the cell. It was a sign of not only thanks but begrudging respect. If Hunter was telling the truth, he’d be risking his life doing so. If the Consortium found out he had told them anything, he’d never live to see another day once he was free.

“Never thought I’d be going back to the Corridor,” Tara said as she turned her attention to Thalek. “We should reach out to DS10, have them watch for any signs of a disturbance until we can get there. Maybe they can coordinate ships in the area to give us some back up,” she suggested.

Garen returned to the pair almost as quickly as he left and, when in a three person huddle, he updated them both. “We’ve detected one ship headed to the wormhole. Even at maximum warp, we won’t catch them before they get through,” he revealed, but then it got worse. “Ops is reporting that they tried to contact the relay station to get a message through the wormhole already. All transmissions are blocked,” the Bajoran revealed.

“Which means we can’t contact the station until we are on the other side of the wormhole,” Thalek frowned as his antennae bobbed away freely. “Do we believe him?” The Captain whispered, glancing back briefly at the Terran who was now laid back on his bed and staring at the ceiling. “He’s lied before, plenty of times.”

Tara sighed. “I’m cognizant enough of my own bias to realize I can’t be an impartial judge of his character at this time,” Tara replied. “I want to believe that my friend and former Captain is still in there somehow, but I just can’t see it, not anymore; even still, I want to believe he told us the truth,” she admitted candidly. Truly, this could all be some elaborate feint, take out the relay and have Monhok run off to places unknown, and Nathan knew how to play her, throwing in details about the Corridor and the Order of Twelve to put her on edge, and his casual response now certainly wasn’t helping matters, but despite it all Tara’s gut was telling her it was the truth. “I know you have little reason to trust me at this point, but I think we should act on this intel.”

Thalek considered the woman’s words carefully and eventually nodded. “Okay Commander, the bridge is yours. Get us to the wormhole as soon as possible. When we are on the other side, we’ll try and contact the station,” the Andorian instructed. “I’ll fill the Admiral in and contact the Commodore before I join you up there,” he added.

“Yes sir,” Tara replied, bowing out so she could carry out his orders. Without showing an inkling of the hesitation she felt inside, she disappeared through the Brig doors to catch the next lift.]]>Thu, 25 Oct 2018 00:21:56 +0000Ramificationshttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/243
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/243Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Nogura Ready RoomTimeline - MD120, 1145 Hours

Sitting on the sofa in his brand new ready room, Captain th’Zorati was busy reading through some of the latest political developments in the home quadrants with a glass of iced tea, finding the latest stories quite intriguing indeed. Nogura was on its way to Altor and, with a few hours until they got there, the Captain had an unexpected opportunity to indulge in his hobby. Most interesting of all was the developments with the Romulans. The Imperial Senate of the Romulan Star Empire had declared it was withdrawing all Romulan support immediately from the joint operations of the interstellar station Astrofori One in the Menthar Sector. It was a fascinating project, aimed at providing Federation and Romulan scientists with a base to study the Menthar Nebula which had been showing confusing readings of late.

But as tensions continued to rise between the Federation and the Romulan Star Empire in the fallout of the Romulans’ failed invasion of Duronis II, the Romulans had retaliated against sanctions imposed by the Federation Council by announcing their sudden withdrawal from Astrofori One. Despite recent joint projects and the Gavarian Exploration Agreement, no one could claim the two empires were friendly. There were still considerable tensions and things they disagreed on.

Taking a sip of his iced tea, the Andorian read on. “The Romulan people are very demanding of where our resources are spent,” reported Senator Mavok, who Thalek knew from recent debrief was currently one of the most powerful individuals on the influential Continuing Committee. “We no longer see the expenditure of such resources into this project as a fruitful one.” That would no doubt be frustrating for everyone in the science community

As one of the major powers operating the station, the loss of Romulan support put into question the sustainability of the station, both operationally and defensively. In a further blow to what was once hailed by the Federation Secretary of the Exterior as the biggest project since the War, and a major part of former President Nan Bacco’s legacy when it was launched earlier in the decade, the Krazzle Republic (surprisingly another major player in the project) had indicated that they too would no longer support the massive station once the Romulans left. It was all incredibly fascinating for the Andorian. He had very little interest in the science side of the project but the political and strategic ramifications were great.

Reading on, Thalek was further surprised. There had been no official comment from the current Federation President or any of the other members of the Federation Council yet, but at least Starfleet officials had been quick to downplay the significance of the Romulans’ departure. The quote from Admiral Gor was very intriguing.

“The Starfleet contingent, along with our Trigati Republic partners, are prepared to take over all major station operational duties if necessary,” Rear Admiral Vasoch Gor, the Tellarite commander for Starfleet operations in the Menthar Sector, had clearly laid out a message of intent for the Romulans; pull out if you want, but we will carry on regardless. An admirable stance that the Andorian hoped Starfleet would follow through with.

As always, there were detractors. Political opponents of President Bezar, however, had apparently expressed severe doubt on the viability of the station and the Federation’s continued presence in the Menthar sector, without the support of both the Romulans and the Krazzle. Isolated from most other Federation installations, Astrofori One had relied on the combined logistical support of all powers to keep it running.

The Federation presence in the Menthar Sector had begun originally with a lone Federation starship, the USS Mercury, which was granted access to the area from the Krazzle Republic in late 2387. Starfleet’s exploration of the region grew with larger starships, culminating in the launch of both Astrofori One and the Invicta Expedition, one of four major expeditionary task forces launched in 2387 by President Bacco. The Invicta Expedition comprised five vessels that set out on a three-year mission in the Menthar Sector from 2387 to 2390. Although initial plans included the possibility of additional multi-year missions, the Bezar administration had apparently decided not to renew the expeditionary task forces to instead redirect Starfleet forces to other areas deemed more urgent. Invitation itself, now reportedly seemed destined for a new project in the Gavarian Corridor, hundreds of light years from Menthar.

Finishing his iced tea, the Captain concluded his reading and put the PADD on his desk before returning to the sofa, leaning on the back of it as he stared out into space, contemplating the ramifications of what he had read, but also thankful that he was now in the Gamma Quadrant, thousands of light years away.

Soon, the door chime to his quarters interrupted his tranquil surroundings and his train of thought, drawing his attention to the opposite side of his office. “Enter!” he called out.

Within seconds, a worried looking Bajoran in command red entered the office, carrying a data PADD. “Sir, we have a problem,” Commander Garen, the ships new Strategic Operations Officer declared, passing the PADD to his superior Officer.

Thalek gestured for the Bajoran to sit on the sofa as he read the data storage devices contents. It was a message, an update, from Starfleet Intelligence. At first, it seemed pretty standard, just a usual update. The addendum at the end caused Thalek’s expression to change and his antennae to bow in a way that could only mean one thing; there was a serious problem indeed. “Inform the helm to change course for the Wormhole, warp eight. Find Neprem, quietly, and have her join me in the Brig,” the Captain instructed as he rose to his seat and made a beeline for the door, still carrying the PADD. He then stopped and looked back at the Bajoran in tow. “Inform Admiral Hanson we’ll be delaying his visit to Altor and I’ll brief him later,” the Captain concluded his orders as they crossed the threshold to the bridge and the Andorian made for the aft turbo lift. As he disappeared inside, he heard the Bajoran give the helm their new orders, but once the lift doors closed and he had directed it to deck 5, he cursed (loudly) in Andorian. Why was nothing ever simple for the men and women of the Nogura?
]]>Wed, 24 Oct 2018 19:19:29 +0000Tactical Preparationshttp://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/240
http://uss-nogura.com/nova/index.php/sim/viewpost/240Mission - Episode 5: The Adversary (Joint Mission)Location - Executive Officer's Ready RoomTimeline - MD120, 1110 hours

Jamie had spent the last hour since the Captain left organizing tactical data. Of course, 15 minutes had initially been spent researching what a tactical operations report looked like aboard the Nogura. Thinking he had what Commander Neprem wants, he swept the PADD from the desk and tucked it to his side. Nearly stumbling around his new desk, he regained his balance just in time to find himself face-to-face with closed hatch. He had locked the hatch to prevent from being disturbed while compiling the report. He reached up and touched the control panel, immediately allowing the hatch to slide aside. Within a few steps, he passed his old desk; a desk that he will have to fill somehow in the coming days. Deciding that this was a task for a later time, he continued forward and out of the security office.

The corridor was far less busy than earlier in the morning. He only passed two separate crewmen on his way to the turbolift that would take him to the bridge. Upon stepping in to the lift, he spun around and barked his command.

"Bridge," he said with far more confidence than his first trip to the bridge earlier this morning. The lift hummed to life and he spent the five-deck trip quickly proofreading a portion of his report as quickly as possible. He was soon interrupted by the sound of the lift door sliding aside. He hadn't noticed the lift slowing or the hum disappearing. Tucking the PADD back to his side, he stepped onto the bridge and turned left. With the exception of the Captain's and XO's chairs on the middle platform of the bridge, each bridge station was occupied. This was not surprising since the Nogura was set to depart in the next hour or so.

Stepping down onto the middle platform, he passed the auxiliary mission operations and science stations. He stepped down onto the lower platform and passed the operations and flight operations stations before moving slight right towards the Commander's ready room at the fore of the bridge. Stopping arm's length from the hatch, Jamie reached his hand out and pressed the chime button.

"Enter," Tara called out. The Captain wanted the Nogura battle ready, so she was just finishing up some details before heading out to the Bridge to stand watch. But first, she had to deal with whoever was at her door. "Lieutenant Franklin," Tara said in greeting when the doors swished open to reveal the new Sec/Tac Chief. "I just sent you a message; we're nearing the Yadera system and need to be prepared for the possibility of battle. Is Tactical ready?" she asked as she shut off her console while rising from her chair.

Jamie stepped forward towards Tara. He had never actually been this close to her. From behind her desk, she seemed taller and more intimidating. He had never had to deal with her directly; until now. He looked her in the eyes and responded.

"Yes, Ma'am," he replied, holding out the PADD he had been working on for the past hour. "Security and tactical teams are at the ready and Commander Th'iqiarrroq is manning the tactical station for the time being."

As the Trill came around her desk, she took the PADD and gave it a quick once over. "Very good," Tara said approvingly, then returned the PADD to Franklin. "Now how much Bridge experience do you have? Are you prepared to man the Tactical station in the event of a combat situation?"

Jamie fidgeted a bit and looked to the deck briefly. "I haven't touched a tactical station since advanced tactical school let alone on this bridge," he replied, looking up at the Trill, expecting to see a wince of disappointment in her eyes. "But," he began in an attempt to advocate for himself, "in a pinch I'm sure it would come back to me."

"In that case, I would like you to man the station, but pick one of your staff with Bridge experience to back you up, just in case," Tara said without a shred of disappointment. "And chin up, Lieutenant, inexperience is nothing to be ashamed of; better to admit your shortcomings so you can better prepare than to let us down while feigning experience. Now, Bridge shifts are mandatory for department heads, and I'm going to recommend a course of training simulations for when you're not on the Bridge. After that, you just need time."

"Of course, Ma'am," Jamie replied, more upbeat and less shameful. "I will ask Ensign Ja'Qull from delta shift to back me up and at the earliest possible moment, I will run your recommended training simulations," he assured his new boss.

"Excellent," Tara replied, giving the junior officer and encouraging grin. "Was there anything else you needed before we report to the Bridge?"

Jamie racked his brain for a moment, searching for anything but he could find nothing to add. "No, Ma'am," he replied with a smile.

"Don't strain yourself there," Tara said with a chuckle. "I'll be waiting for you to report to the Bridge once you rouse Ensign Ja'Qull. And be quick about it, we'll be arriving at the Yadera system soon. Dismissed."

"Aye, Ma'am," Jamie replied, snapping to the position of attention. He smiled and departed the ready room.]]>Wed, 24 Oct 2018 23:21:56 +0000